![michalczyk[1].jpg](javascript:Site.openWin('/polopoly_fs/1.918519!image/1889226733.jpg', 250, 352) "Photo: Todd Seekircher")
Conflicts involving clashes of cultures, ideas, and religions occur all over the world. The number of conflicts occurring at any given time makes it sometimes difficult to understand the perspectives of each side. This is where Boston College professor John Michalczyk comes in.
For 30 years Michalczyk has been in the fine arts department, teaching classes in art, film, and literature. Michalczyk, who currently chairs the fine arts department, has been covering conflicts around the world since the mid-80s with a focus on documenting each side's viewpoint. "I see myself as trying to understand and interpret the two narratives in conflict," says Michalczyk.
Michalczyk began his film career in 1986, which was "very informal" as Michalczyk says. "Nothing was really professional until my 1992 film on Christian Anti-Semitism."
The clashing areas that have been the setting of Michalczyk's documentaries have ranged from North Ireland to South Africa to right here in Boston. In his films, Michalczyk's goal is "to understand how [the conflict] took place and then present our findings in an hour film that can be understood by anyone."
"They're conflict revolution films showing the conflict and what comes out of the conflict," says Michalczyk.
Because his films strive to "understand and interpret the two narrations in conflict" he must observe the conflict without being biased. "We try to see and not make judgments," says Michalczyk.
Professor Michalczyk's latest undertaking, Killing Silence, documents the struggle of the Sicilian people to break free from the control of the Mafia, which had ruled the Italian island from the last moments of World War II.
Michalczyk "wanted to show how in the past the Mafia controls every aspect in the lives of the civilians and after the bombing [of leading prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino] how the civilians take back their lives."
In the aftermath of the bombing of Falcone and Borsellino in 1992, the way of life in Sicily has changed drastically. The Mafia "has gone more invisible," says Michalczyk, "but it's definitely still there."
Even though the Mafia still exists in Sicily, Michalczyk sees it "morphing into white collar crime" and away from the extortion, illegal gambling, and prostitution typically associated with the Mafia in Sicily before the Sicilian citizens revolted.
The 50 minute film serves as a great educational piece for many Americans. "Most people see [the Mafia] as a Hollywood interpretation of the real thing," says Michalczyk. "It romanticizes the image of the Mafia."
The truth is many real people are forced to pay "protection money," real people are restricted by the Mafia, and real people can be killed by the Mafia. Says Michalczyk, "Many Mafia groups are worse than the ones seen in Hollywood and many are not as bad."
One interesting film project Michalczyk has begun is the I'm in Here series, which focuses on people with disabilities. This series still follows Michalczyk themes of focusing on the different viewpoints.
"Our mission is similar," says Michalczyk of the series, "but these are very much personal films."
The first film in the series, Michael's Eagle Eyes, depicts a mentally disabled young man's journey through school and beyond while the next film in the series that Michalczyk is planning focuses on the life of a young woman who is deaf and living in Nicaragua.
Professor Michalczyk is very complementative of the crew that has worked with him for most of the past films he has done.
"Since 1997, my work has been much more collaborative" says Michalczyk "It's richer because of the crew."
His cast includes BC's Rev. Raymond Helmick, S.J., fellow faculty member Charles Meyer, Paul Goudreau who has worked in professional film, and Ron Marsh.
His wife Susan Michalczyk also helped out in Killing Silence by helping to communicate with the key players in the story.
In the future Michalczyk plans on doing two films, both about the treatment of prisoners in the Soviet Gulags.
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