Fever

^director Agnieszka Holland
^screenplay (based on a novel ‘The Story of One Bullet’ by Andrzej Strug) Krzysztof Teodor Toeplitz
^{director of photography} Jacek Petrycki
^music Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz
^with Barbara Grabowska, Adam Ferency, Bogusław Linda, Olgierd Łukaszewicz, Krzysztof Zaleski
^awards
 Silver Bear for Barbara Grabowska at the International Film Festival in West Berlin, 1981
 Grand Prix, Golden Lions; Honorary Commendation for Bogusław Linda, Krzysztof Zaleski and Best Art Direction for Andrzej Przedworski (together with his set design for the film ‘Shilly-Shally’) at the 8th Polish Film Festival in Gdańsk, 1981

[DIALOGUE FROM THE FILM]

Chemist: At the moment, there’s only one but it’s wonderful. I used a new formula, so the explosion will be stronger. Only it’s very delicate and needs delicate handling. Kama: Don’t worry, I can manage. (…) I don’t really understand why you’ve come here anyway. Why are you doing all this for us? Chemist: Frankly, I don’t really know. I like it. It’s so beautiful to fight evil. Kill it with a bomb. It’s so beautiful.

MARIA JANION, THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE BOMB [FILOZOFIA BOMBY], ‘KINO’, 1981, NO. 2

Agnieszka Holland’s film is unique in Polish cinema mainly because it deals with the ‘philosophy of the bomb’ ruthlessly and leads it to a tragic end. The problem of using violence, terror, stratagem and betrayal to ged rid of a tyrant and murderer is an important latent problem in modern Polish culture. Everything in this film is surprising. Holland tells a story of a missile (from Andrzej Strug’s novel) in the aura of fever, frenzy and cruelty. (…) It is a terrifyingly wild film (…) and at the same time it is precise and cold. Its silent central character is the bomb. The fighters feel attracted to its fatalistic beauty. (…) It is actually the bomb that rules the terrorist.