Life of a Butterfly

Nicknamed Rózal, the Polish professional heavyweight Marcin Rózalski looks menacing with his shaved head, tattoo-covered body and his two pit bulls Stalin and Satan. This is an image that generates considerable popularity among the audience. Meanwhile, he wins a lot of fights and earns a good living. For this portrait, filmmaker Piotr Bernas went searching for the person behind this bellicose mask and attempted to discover what motivates this man to train day in and day out, making his money by fighting. Beautiful close-ups of the training, preparations for a match and the triumph and pain that follow are interspersed with footage of Marcin’s private life with his girlfriend Marta and her young son. He is 33 and realizes that his martial arts career can come to an end at any moment. “My expiration date is coming soon,” he says without any hint of sarcasm. On the one hand, he longs for the day when an opponent beats him to a pulp and he can start another chapter. On the other, he feels resigned to his fate. “I’m vulgar, I’m aggressive, I’m unpredictable, I’m a 200 percent freak.”