MovieChat Forums > Lilja 4-ever (2002) Discussion > Why did Witek speak to Lilja in English?

Why did Witek speak to Lilja in English?

posted 10 years ago by noceszatana
4 replies | jump to latest

I'm not sure if this is a goof or intentional. When Witek confronts Lilja after she screams for help, he speaks a few words angrily in Polish. This is fine and believable that in anger he speaks his native language - but it's very unlikely that Witek would not have a working knowledge of Russian. As an older Pole in his 40s-50s, he would have had Russian for a decade or so in school. If he was unable to communicate in Russian, what about his relationship with Andrei or other Russian/former Soviet contacts? How would they communicate? Broken English? Swedish?

I wonder if Witek is meant to know Russian, but because the character would rather limit his interaction with Lilja he does not speak with her in Russian. Or he limits his Russian use to business, never using it unless he has to.

My thoughts - he knows, but further adds to her dehumanization by refusing to give her even the comfort of a language she is familiar in. It gives him some advantage over her in a sense too, she isn't aware that he could understand her outside of English.

Maybe it's too deep for the movie, but I wonder to what extent the character of Witek being Polish and not speaking to Lilja was intentional..

What do you think?

[–] Tyler-A-Arse 10 years ago

I didn't give it a second thought until I read your post. She was Russian, he was Swedish. He never spoke Russian to her, so I assumed he didn't know any. I had no idea about the "older Pole in his 40s-50s having Russian lessons" thing.

It's possible the writer/director didn't have this knowledge either. If he didn't, he wouldn't see it as a goof. But considering the writer/director is Swedish, perhaps he should've known this.

[–] Vacuus 8 years ago

He insulted her in Polish when he got angry.
Witek is also a Polish name.
The actor portraying Witek is Tomasz Neuman, who was born in Poland and emigrated to Sweden when he was 24.
It's safe to say Witek was supposed to be of Polish descent.

[–] TheMachinistSleeps 10 years ago

Couldn't he have been born in Sweden? Then he probably would have learned English instead of Russian. Or was there something in his accent that tells you he's not Swedish? I don't pick up on accents from around there... no idea. ;)

[–] Vacuus 8 years ago

He had lived in Sweden for a long time, judging by his accent.
Russian probably had a lower priority for him than Swedish, Polish and English.

If he knew a bit of Russian and still chose not to speak it, then it would probably be of nationalistic/anti-Russian reasons, sort of like how many French people refuse to speak English.