A film made after Stalin’s death, presenting a politically correct propaganda approach, which attempts to slightly rehabilitate the Polish soldiers fighting in the West during the war.
Adaptation of the novel “Niebieskie drogi” by Janusz Meissner, a popular writer specializing in aviation.
Many years after it was made, the picture now has documentary value due to the realistic depiction of pilots’ work and the conditions in the Polish airlines.
Piotr Maresz, a pilot and veteran of the battle of Britain, returns to the country after the war and starts working in civil aviation. Since the authorities don’t trust him he’s limited to domestic flights, which makes him increasingly frustrated. A breakthrough in Maresz’s life is the death of his friend whose wife Piotr in love with. Mary, who comes from England, decides to leave Poland and asks Piotr to come with her. At the same time Maresz grows fond of a young doctor Krystyna and during forest spraying operation he finally wins his younger colleagues’ respect. The character has a difficult choice to make: to leave the country in which he is perceived as a second class citizen or to continue fighting for his place in the communist fatherland?
The plot of “Sprawa pilota Maresza” includes many references to real events, among others the crash of Li-2 plane close to Tuszyn in 1951, the escape of the head of pilots of PLL LOT – captain Mieczysław Sadowski or the unsuccessful attempt at hijacking a passenger plane piloted by captain Tadeusz Hendzl. Also some of the characters (Mary Surowiec) were based on real people.
