CINEMA AFTER 1989

The sudden and unexpected political transformations  following 1989, did not introduce in fact any revolutionary changes into the Polish cinematography, against some expectations. Apparently, the freedom gained from the censorship restrictions and entering the free market economy have become of significant importance to the film industry.  A new perception of an independent  and free cinematography was enforced - so different from the one accepted during the previous 50 years -  together with the new concept of the cinema mission which was surviving under various form despite the temptation (or sometimes the diktat) of commercialism.  However, the cinema did not choose its paths according to any political indication, as it was the case for some other artistic fields.

It is difficult to find some similarities between the aura of the early 90s of the last century and the pure and inventive climate of the Polish cinematography following 1956, and later during the “Solidarność” period. Old masters, i.e. Wajda with "Pierścionek z orłem w koronie” (1993), a film regarded as a specific annex to „Popiół i diament”; Kutz with  „Śmierć jak kromka chleba” (1994), a tribute to the miners from the „Wujek” coal mine who became victims of the martial law, remain in minority with their sensitive approach to the history. Following numerous history upheavals, hopes and disappointments, proclamations about the new Poland were difficult to make by young artists. What is more, the aversion to use grand words turned into the aversion towards grand issues. The song about Janek Wisniewski (in fact, Zbyszek Godlewski), a worker  killed by the police in 1970 in Gdańsk, which was sung by Krystyna Janda with such a heartbraking voice in “Człowiek z żelaza”, was adopted for one scene in “Psy” by Władysław Pasikowski in which secret police members carry a dead-drunk companion yelling “Janek Wisniewski fell down”. A taboo was broken. Many years ago, workers from Gdańsk carried on a door board a killed fellow worker singing the very same song (one is injured / another killed / blood was shed at dawn in December / the party shoots at workers / Janek Wisniewski fell down dead).

The artistic provocation posed by Pasikowski was met with strong protests originating not only from the “Solidarność” circles. But this provocation was very intentional: with its brutality, heroes – utterly demoralized “dogs”, it struck a very specific atmosphere, deprived of the joy from the “regained garbage dump”.   The success of “Psy” was explained by many of young viewers as a result of becoming disillusioned.

The division into “we versus them”, which was so characteristic for the marshal law period,  got muddied or even reappeared in the youth culture with a twisted meaning. Popular punk-rock groups had already sung about “the Solidarity selling us” and about “great pushing and shoving at the trough / no mercy, no conscience / the pigs fight for the trough / killing their dreams”. The first films of that period came up with a hasty and  rather biased diagnosis of the social situation after 1989 (“Człowiek z …”, “Uporwadzenie Agaty”, and presented a similar tone ranging from disillusion to total ostentatious disgust. From today’s perspective, we can learn more about the state of mind of their authors, than about the reality depicted in those films.

This non-nonce, even too much down-to-earth, climate of that period searched for new heroes, hence the significant transfiguration of the stardom model. For the  of the “Polish school” and for the early post-war generation, a charismatic actor was the “Polish James Dean” – Zbyszek Cybulski, an expressive, oversensitive, almost neurasthenic personality which shall always be associated with the role of Maciek Chełmicki in “Popiół i diament”; in the 60s and 70s, he was then succeeded by   Daniel Olbrychski who became an epitome of vitality and life stamina; the symbol of the new era was Bogusław Linda – a loner, burdened with some bitter experience and disillusioned, therefore presenting rough manners, and being economical with his words and gestures. The cinematography has experiences numerous similar evolutions of personality models. In our country, however, this evolution becomes the prove of not only the permanent climatic changes, but also of new forms of human communication. Some social codes seem to be recognized better in the collective experience now than it used to be before. The contemporary Polish social cinema prefers to show things rather that to interpret them.

At the turn of our century, the province moves back to the cinema; not only the one which was so stylishly evoked by Barański in his “Dwa księżyce”, by the one which is permeated with the contemporary anxieties presented in “Balanga” by Łukasz Wylężałek, „Chce mi się wyć” by Jacek Skalski, „Torowisko” by  Urszula Urbaniak, and „Kochaj i rób co chcesz”, a Darling porduction by Gliński or in picturesque comedy productions by Bromski, e.g. „U Pana Boga za piecem I w ogródku”.

The film social surveys refer these days to some real, ever-day-life problems, avoiding the ones exposed on the press front pages.  The gap between the “grand” and “small” worlds becomes so striking. Politics in its medial and publicized dimensions is practically absent in the film plots, which is a very similar trend to the cinematographies of other countries.  When recently Jerzy Stuhr and Michał Rosa turned to the issue of vetting, both authors treated with contrariness. The political figures are normally depicted in a distorting mirror, e.g. as the apparition of Mateusz Bigda, prophetically recalled by Wajda  in his film and television show from 1999, or a new incarnation of Dyzma alias Nikoś, the gangster from the film made by Bromski (2002), or the gangster world of Killer from the very popular comedy diptych directed by Juliusz Machulski. This is not simply a sign  of aversion presented by directors, but rather  a sign of entering a new territory.

A different story refers to the complex of money and informal connection linked to it. The material goods, which have been treated by our cinematography with suspicion, since the times of “Nóż w wodzie”, have been frequently targeted during these change capitalistic conditions. Dramatic stories about the awaiting dangers („Krugerandy” by Wojciech  Nowak , „Amok” by Natalia Koryncka-Gruz, „Nie ma zmiłuj” by Waldemar  Krzystek, as well as comedy ventures into the land of luxury which hides misdeeds („Złote runo” by Janusz  Kondratiuk, „Fuks” by Maciej  Dutkiewicz) reflect the common awareness, becoming at the same time its involuntary projection. They gain a two-fold credibility: as a description and a diagnosis. This is also a paradox so specific for our compatriots.  They work hard, frequently running their own businesses, becoming then very successful. But a well-know truth is that they would rarely admit their success, being ore willing to mythicize  obstacles and dangers.  The filmed Poland of the early XXI century will presented itself to our descendants as a country burdened  with mistrust and torn into pieces by neurosis. And although sociological surveys do not confirm the existence this image, it is frequently accepted by the audience. The cinema shall tell you the truth.

Will the world then be, as it seems to us?  There exists a trend in the contemporary Polish cinematography which defies superficiality in favour of hidden meanings. Finally, the original author’s cinema is back after many years. For a long time, Jan Jakub Kolski has been creating his own world which departs away from literalism  by submerging into fantasy.  With a consequence worth some attention but at the same time with sensitivity, Dorota Kędzierzawska analyses spheres which remain invisible to a superficial look. Michał Rosa presents the reverse of our reality which seems to be tamed; however, having a closer look , it discloses some disturbing and ambiguous hallmarks.  The stories unfolded by Andrzej Jakimoski, so outstanding for a debutant, remain submerged in a daily life, so dozy, common, and apparently deprived of any significance, however, emanating with feelings and underling, existential anxiety. These films are sometimes labelled  as niche productions, with frequently mentioning  the risk undertaken by the patron. They certainly require the viewer to cooperate and share the feelings. This is what the art risk is all about. The same happened to Kieslowski. We have finally given him due credit and appreciation when we miss him.

Rafał Marszałek