A Year in the Life of the Country (2024)

On the 13th of December 1981, telephone connections were cut off throughout Poland. Tanks appeared in the streets of the cities. A night curfew came into force. In response to the growing influence of the Solidarity trade union movement, General Jaruzelski's government declared a state of emergency. Tomasz Wolski's edited documentary uses lesser-known archival footage to put this tense chapter of Polish history into a broader context. But it is not only the speeches of politicians and dramatic clashes between citizens and the repressive apparatus that are included in this collage, edited with a flair for the absurd – the myth of a nation that suffered under totalitarian rule is shattered by images of everyday life. Many Poles are convinced, in line with government propaganda, that the opposition could have started a civil war. Others are more concerned about empty shelves than about the lack of freedom. The ubiquitous police and soldiers become as much a part of socialist reality as the fact that a shoe shop sells chickens. Ironically, the foreign correspondent seems most concerned about the whole situation. This portrait of a divided country, whose tragicomic quality also lies in its timelessness, concludes Wolski's historical trilogy (see An Ordinary Country (2020) and 1970 (2021)).