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Editorial Comments
Description: The first movie in post-war Poland to achieve cult status, this absurd comedy features a group of picturesque characters: a cross-section of Polish society in the late '60s spending their holidays on a boat trip to nowhere.
Cast: Stanislaw Tym, Jan Himilsbach
1970, B/W, English subtitles. Running Time: 65 min.
Well-deserved "cult film" status One of the best films I have ever seen is a Polish comedy of manners entitled "Rejs". Interestingly enough, it might well prove utterly boring and incomprehensible to someone unfamiliar with the indigenous mentality of Polish society of the 1960s. In fact, it is an extremely perceptive sociological study of our parents' and grandparents' generation.
The film looks as if it had been made by a casual witness with an amateur camera, which certainly does not mean it is amateurish. On the contrary, it is a real work of genius. The director, Marek Piwowski, had the bright idea to cast complacent simpletons and pseudo-intellectuals sorted out from the masses of Warsaw. Thanks to this extraordinary solution the success of the movie was a foregone conclusion.
I think it is no use describing the plot as the film has the form of a mosaic. It is just a series of images, trivial events, extemporaneous conversations, meetings, and the like. Everything is ultimately absurd and ridiculous, yet immensely amusing. The film is a unique depiction of the work and leisure of the man in the street. It bluntly reveals what the average Pole does while "doing nothing", at the same time mercilessly betraying his vanity.
I am convinced that the film is a masterpiece and should be regarded as an integral part of Poland's cultural heritage, as well as the epitome of the dismal past. Nobody should miss it!
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