Boża podszewka

Boża podszewka and Boża podszewka. Część druga are Polish TV series based on the novel with the same title by about the life of petty szlachta in the backwaters of the Vilnius Region. The first part was aired in 15 episodes during 1997–1998 and covered the time period 1900-1945. The second part was aired in 16 episodes during 2005-2006 and covered the time period 1945-1948. It was the debut work of Izabella Cywińska as film director.
When the airing started, the series caused a considerable controversy across the whole Poland among the people originating from the Kresy region, which the Vilnius Region was part of. They claimed that the series created a distorted, unflattering image of the people from the Vilnius region.

Etymology

The Polish expression "Boża podszewka" is a dismissive reference to an unimportant, disregarded person. In an afterword to one of the editions of the book Lubkiewicz-Urbanowicz wrote that in Vilnius Region the expression referred to the last, unwanted, child. In the book and film, the protagonist Marianna/Maryśka is exactly that: the last of nine children, physically weak, treated by parents worse than her siblings.