Back from
holidays again – experienced a total logout from work and tomorrow the first
thing I’ll need will be a password reset to access my computer. Even the
weather diffidently signals time to return to corpo-world has come – the recent
heat wave gave way to a downpour and temperatures plunged by 10C, giving a
blissful relief from the heat. And may it stay so…
Got some
time to catch up with film watching and finally watched Drogówka, the fourth
film by Wojtek Smarzowski which went on the silver screens in February this
year.
Mr
Smarzowski’s film-directing attainment is definitely incomparable to any other
contemporary film-maker in Poland. To put it briefly, in Smarzowski’s world
there’s no choice between good and evil, the best option is only the lesser of
tow evils… In his (in)famous four films he deftly depicts the darkest side of
life, pouring the filth into the audience, making you want to take a shower and
wash away all the dirt that has stuck to you while watching.
For many
people I know even his first film, Wesele, released in 2004 and favourably
received by critics, was intolerable. The film is actually a very ‘light’
depiction of the dark side of Polish mentality, showed in the background of a
provincial wedding. The story of pregnant bride coerced to marry a groom
bought-off by his would-be father-in-law sheds light on the worst traits of
provincial duplicity: caring more about “what people say” (keeping up
appearances) and money than about relatives’ happiness. Striking shady business
is more important than grandpa’s sudden death, stolen Audi TT is more important
than just-married wife and a child she will give birth to. Well-done and
well-balanced art…
Dom Zły
(especially with English subtitles, Jamie, are you still with us?) takes you
back to the days of Martial Law and, in retrospections, to late 1970s. The
picture is dirty, at times vulgar and explicit, yet taking into account the
purport of the film, suitable. Form should fit the content and in this case the
balance is still struck.
I’m ashamed
to admit I haven’t found time, even in the last days (when still I was kind of
busy doing some overdue refurbishment works around the house), to watch Róża.
My mother, who watched it (but refused to watch it with me), told me cruelty
and filth was dosed out moderately. The film, set in post-war reality of
“regained lands” shows the dark side of events that actually took place and the
depiction simply lacks censorship that would erase the ugliest parts. Yet, as
critics say, given the historical background, use of abhorrent content is
justifiable.
Compared to
the newest Smarzowski’s film, the three previous could be classified as
late-afternoon cartoons for polite children. In Drogówka, subsidised by State
Film Art Institute and favourably reviewed by critics, the batty director has
gone over the top and I will stand up for this view despite by general
insensitivity to filth. The film was meant to over-expose all the pathologies
plaguing the Polish police, in particular its road traffic forces. In fact only
some of the pathologies showed in the film are the daily bread – these are
mainly use of foul language or offensive jokes. Other alleged afflictions
depicted in the film are simply marginal problems – gone are the days of
wide-spread corruption, hardly ever can you find policemen gaining fortunes on
bribery, regularly visiting brothels and raping accidentally met women. When
the film was released I found the police representative’s statement, claiming
the film discredits police, exaggerated and unfounded. Upon watching this and
sticking it out (which I consider a success, as the plot is anything but
gripping) I have to take back my words. As three previous film showed actual
dark side of life, were waspish and cruel, yet fair, this one is a one massive
distortion. The amount of obscene content is also fairly overdosed. The film
could have done without explicit scenes of anal sex in the escort agency and
one of the last scenes – oral sex on the back seat of a car, tragically ended
by rear-ending could have also been edited out and without those two shots the
film would have soaked with filth anyway. I have nothing against showing moral
downfall, as I believe when it exists in fact, as such eye-popping naturalism
showed to the public may help eradicate evil. In Drogówka intensity of filth
might be unbearable even for the toughest audience.
I only
wonder whether Mr Smarzowski takes pleasure in shooting such films. With each
next film his exploration of dirt gets deeper, naturalism grows into
over-naturalism and I don’t feel like watching his next attempt, no matter how
many stars it receives in review in “Co jest grane”…
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