52 Films by Women Vol 6. 39. OTHER PEOPLE (Inni Ludzie) (Director: Aleksandra Terpinska)
Contemporary Polish films aren’t much fun. Other countries inspire frothy romantic comedies in which income is not an issue. Not Poland. Other countries show off iconic architecture as a backdrop. Not Poland. The first image that comes to mind when I think of Poland is the Gdansk shipyards. I think of Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement. When I watch contemporary Polish films, I see depressed women of all income brackets struggling with bad relationships under a grey sky. They might enjoy sex, but they aren’t in control of their destiny. They will inevitably be punished for their transgression. It is as if the filmmaker is wagging a finger to warn the audience, ‘Don’t do this’. Polish films will feature ‘bad boys’, young male protagonists with anti-social attitudes who express their loathing of homosexuality and contempt for women. In some films, loathing and contempt extends to other cultures. These are our principal viewpoint characters, thugs nursing a wound or two, striki...