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“The merriest bunkhouse in the camp”:. Polish comedies. OUR FOLKS ( SAMI SWOI ). Comedy made in 1967. Director Sylwester Chęciński. Music by Wojciech Kilar. First part of a trilogy, followed by We are Strong ( Nie ma mocnych, 1974) and Love or Ditch ( Kochaj albo rzuć, 1977).
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“The merriest bunkhouse in the camp”: Polish comedies
OUR FOLKS (SAMI SWOI) • Comedy made in 1967. Director Sylwester Chęciński. Music by Wojciech Kilar. • First part of a trilogy, followed by We are Strong (Nie ma mocnych, 1974) and Love or Ditch (Kochaj albo rzuć, 1977). • Black and white; digital colour version , 2000.
OUR FOLKS • A story of two displaced peasant families, the Pawlaks and the Karguls, brought from the East to the “Regained Territories”. • A family feud and a “Romeo and Juliet” plotline. • Slapstick comedy with underlining social satire. • Undying popularity due to witty dialogues.
VABANK (I and II) • Directed by Juliusz Machulski, 1981 and 1984. Music by Henryk Kużniak. • Starring: Jan Machulski. • Criminal comedy set in 1930s. • Focused on a genius safecracker/musician, Kwinto, and his revenge on a treacherous partner/sly banker; “noble robbers” restoring justice.
Sexmission (Seksmisja) • Sexmission made in 1984, director Juliusz Machulski. • Starring: Jerzy Stuhr and Olgierd Łukaszewicz. • Voted by viewers as the best Polish comedy ever. • A sci-fi anti-utopia. Takes place in 1991 and in 2044. • Acute political satire.
Sexmission • An epigraph from Sławomir Mrożek: “Tomorrow is today, only tomorrow” («Jutro to dziś — tyle, że jutro»). • A post-nuclear war society without men, a feminist totalitarian science-oriented world. • Human reproduction through parthenogenesis.
Sexmission • Two men survive due to a hibernation experiment. • They are defrosted on March 8 (International Women’s Day), 53 years later. • Escape and start “the return to normality”: the first boy born on December 24.
Sexmission: Political subtext • Oppressive society with military discipline; • Brainwashing; • Bugged rooms; • Falsification of history; • Distortion of reality; • Lies on TV; • Underground dissidents; • Suppression of sensuality and sexuality; • Hatred towards “the other,” an image of an enemy.