Day of the Wacko (Dzien Swira) [DVD]

This is an absolutely phenomenal satire. It is, however, almost closed to a viewer not familiar with pre-89 Poland. If you thought you did not like White, you will hate this movie. If you enjoyed White, and understood most of Kieslowski's short films, you will love this. It is certainly nowhere near as serious as the Dekalog, but very funny.

One of the traditional strengths of Polish film comedy was always making fun of reality, especially in the political context, in a pointed, dry, sarcastic albeit allegorical way. During the grim and unhappy days of Communism in Poland the filmmakers (and other artists for that matter), in spite of heavy censorship, succeeded in creating many critical portrayals of the conditions of human existence in Poland, conditions that, according to the official propaganda, were continually improving, far superior to life in the Capitalistic societies. These themes are somewhat obsolete now in so far the state no longer imposes any official interpretation of the reality but this by no means is to mean there is no longer any reason to closely scrutinize Polish realm.Unlike under the Communist rule, a man is no longer so utterly alienated and powerless in the contemporary Poland. Yet many Poles tend to whine and groan about everything no matter what the circumstances. Our "hero", Adas Miauczynski (his last name is suggestive of this "whining" attitude), seems to be the perfect example of such demeanor. It gets so bad one might label his condition with "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" term, or something to that effect, and things become really - nothing funny (to use a title of Koterski's another movie).Marek Koterski, the film director, seems to be making precisely this point: look into yourself first before you start blaming others for your misfortunes.But what is supposed to be the strong point of the movie turns into its weakness. The main character's behavior is so ridiculous that even when he is right the viewer sees him wrong. Almost everything that happens to our character is a self-inflicted injury. In the process he loses whatever sympathy he may have had with the viewer in the beginning. Constant complaining, bitching and so forth simply turns the viewer against him. In the end whatever correct observations of the Polish reality today there may have been, they are lost because it comes from the mouth of this ever-grumbling man.Not a bad film, worth seeing, but too much focus on absurdities of the main character's behavior overshadowed other dimensions of the movie.

I love that black comedy