The life of St. Maximiliano Kolbe is that of a priest who gives his life as Jesus, and that is what those who are going to see the animated film “Maximiliano Kolbe,” said the director of the film, Pablo José Barroso.
The film, produced by two Films hearts, resorts to the dialogue of an old man with a rebel teenager to tell the story of San Maximiliano Kolbe, the Polish priest who died in the Auschwitz concentration camp when he gave his life for another prisoner.
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“Maximiliano Kolbe” will be released in Colombia on April 17 at the Cinemark and Royal Films rooms, and since May 15 can be seen in cinemas in Argentina, Paraguay and Chile.
In conversation with Ewtn News, the Mexican producer and director of two hearts Films said that those who attend the cinema will see the life of a priest who makes “the greatest sacrifice that is to give life, as our Lord Jesus Christ says, for his friends.”
Likewise, “the life of a priest who is very Marian” and “the day -to -day history of an adult and a young man” with the value of the Eucharist.
The director reported that it was a complex decision if to produce the tape animatedly or in live action“Because many people when they see it in animation believe that it is nothing more for children.” However, he said that it is a film for the whole family, because one of the objectives was to “lower the violence of war a bit.”
During the dialogue, José Pablo Barroso encouraged people to go to the movies and enjoy a movie whose message is that “Love conquers everything”, which was a phrase from St. Maximilian Kolbe.
Who was San Maximiliano Kolbe?
Maximiliano Kolbe was a Polish priest who was born on January 8, 1894 and promoted devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He was also one of the founders of the “City of the Immaculate”, a religious complex built near Warsaw that had a seminar, a monastery, an editorial and a radio station.
After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Kolbe and other Franciscan friars hid in this complex to some 2,000 Jews so that they did not fall into the hands of the Nazis.
However, on February 17, 1941 the Germans closed the monastery and arrested Fr. Kolbe with four other people. That day the friar was sent to Pawiak prison and on May 28 he was transferred to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Despite the abuse, Kolbe continued to have comfort to the prisoners of the countryside, on whom he hung the threat of the Nazi boss that for each prisoner he escaped, ten would be sentenced to starve.
In July 1941 the escape of one of the prisoners was discovered. As retaliation, the Nazis chose ten people, among whom was the Polish sergeant Franciszek Gajowniczek. Resigned, the Polish soldier said: “My God, I have a wife and children.”
The Kolbe friar was close and, hearing the sergeant, he took a step forward and offered to die in his place.
The priest was locked in an underground with the other nine prisoners without food or water. After several days, only he was alive, so the soldiers decided to apply a lethal injection. He died on August 14, 1941 at 47 years of age.
Father Maximiliano Kolbe was beatified by San Pablo VI in 1971 and canonized by San Juan Pablo II in 1982.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication of the National University of San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Press, I have been sent to cover the trips of Pope Francis to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synod of Sinodality in the Vatican in 2023.