RECONSTRUCTION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY: POLES AND UKRAINIANS AMONG OTHERS IN JERZY HOFFMAN'S FILM "WITH FIRE AND SWORD"

The year 1647 abounded with omens. Strange signs and portents of terrible disasters appeared on earth and in the skies. A plague of locusts spilled out of the Wild Lands [Dzikie Pola] in the Spring: a sure sign of Tatar incursions, possibly even a great war. In early summer, the sun disappeared under an eclipse .... With all these signs and warnings, and with the natural order of the seasons so unnaturally reversed, all eyes in the eastern territories turned fearfully to the Wild Lands since peril of every kind could come from those untamed spaces.... Such were the Wild Lands: a continent of grass stamped with savage beauty.