Stealth

By: Amos Lassen

Lionel is a gay man living in Lausanne, Switzerland. His family has no trouble with his sexuality and he has a good job at the local radio station. Near Christmas Lionel discovered that part of his family came from Poland. This bothered him a great deal and it reached the point that his sister decided to take him to Poland. This was so he could discover the country from which he came and herein is the importance of the film. Even though Lionel is gay this is only secondary to him discovering who he really is. It just takes a tiny bit of information to turn one's world upside down and inside out.
When Lionel becomes smitten with anything Polish, his life begins to change. Lucie, Lionel's sister has herself anchored in reality as opposed to Lionel the dreamer. When Lionel meets a Polish girl, Ewa, an illegal immigrant, he feels obligated to marry her so she will not be deported. To do this he had to break up with his boyfriend. Lucie decided to take Lionel to Poland so that he will be convinced not to marry Ewa. The road trip to Poland is symbolic to the adventures the brother and sister will experience as they begin their personal journey. This is a journey that will lead them to hear the life story of their grandfather.
There are some problems in continuity in the film but these can be overlooked for the essence of the film-that of leaving Switzerland to become Polish when in affect Switzerland has always prided itself with the adoption of immigrants rather than the other way around. With the exception of the pop song used over the end credits, all of the music in the film is by Ravel. Ravel's music has been used many times to set a mood and it works beautifully here.