Love, Europe, World of Zygmunt Bauman (2011)

Documentary about Zygmunt Bauman - one of the most influential conteporary sociologists The documentary, which runs just under one hour, consists of four parts: "Culture", "Europe", "The World", and "Himself". Zygmunt Bauman's reflections on the culture and times in which we live ("Ours is not a culture of learning, but of forgetting," "The ultimate result of the blossoming of culture, which we have undoubtedly witnessed in the passing years, is a feeling of having gone astray") and Europe's role in building a global order ("Europe is good at developing the skills needed to live with communities that are different from our own," "No claim about the superiority of one culture over another can be sustained today") are interspersed with more personal themes. The creators of the film have succeeded in painting a portrait of one of the world's most important sociologists, augmenting it with his family story, thanks to interviews with his daughters and private conversations with other important characters. Zygmunt Bauman's famous unwillingness to discuss his personal life makes this insight all the more precious (when prompted with such questions, the professor describes them as "the most boring of all the subjects he could talk about."). Zygmunt Bauman died in Leeds on 9 January 2017.