Szulkin’s work of political resistance calls to attention what it feels like to be fed propaganda 24/7, in this artsy sci-fi picture about a newscaster forced by the authorities to stick to their script of welcoming the mysterious aliens.
Review #2,885
Dir. Piotr Szulkin
1981 | Poland | Drama, Sci-Fi | 94 min | 1.78:1 | Polish
Not rated – likely to be NC16 for some violence and sexuality
Cast: Roman Wilhelmi, Krystyna Janda, Jerzy Stuhr, Stanislaw Tym, Witold Pyrkosz
Plot: A band of hyperintelligent, bloodthirsty Martians take over the country and enlist hapless television newscaster Iron Idem as the voice of their propaganda machine. But when Iron dares to go off message, he makes an enemy even greater than the aliens—the state itself.
Awards: –
Source: WFDiF
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Moderate – Propaganda; Politics; Aliens
Narrative Style: Slightly Complex
Pace: Slightly Slow
Audience Type: Slightly Arthouse
Viewed: MUBI
Spoilers: No
What if aliens landed in Soviet-controlled Poland instead of their favourite haunts in America? Although not a direct adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel, The War of the Worlds: Next Century, should interest cinephiles into the artier side of sci-fi filmmaking, away from big budgets and the spectacle of visual effects.
The film was released in 1981, when martial law was imposed by the Polish government to curtail the rise of the ‘Solidarity’ movement.
With this context, Piotr Szulkin’s work takes on another layer of political meaning, as if the film wasn’t already overtly political. In fact, it was pulled out of the Cannes Film Festival that year too.
But move forward to 1999 when the story is set, just a few days before the ‘new century’, Poland still seems to be under some authoritarian regime.
“You are independent. And I am here to control you.”
Iron Idem (Roman Wilhelmi in a performance of inner turmoil and desperation) is the face of an independent news broadcaster, but when the aliens (they look like bumbling little human beings) arrive, he is told by the authorities to stick to their script—to welcome these foreign beings.
Talk about welcoming foreign interference in domestic affairs…
As the locals get oppressed by the aliens (humans are forced to ‘donate’ large quantities of blood to them), Iron becomes tempted to tell the truth, only to face a bigger problem: the police state that keeps him firmly under control.
So, there we go, as a work of resistance, Next Century calls to attention what it feels like to be fed propaganda 24/7.
The painful (or is it beautiful?) irony is that this sounds exactly like how the West seems to operate today—rampant state-approved lies, tone-deaf statements by supposedly world leaders and the inability to shed their egos and be honest with themselves.
Grade: A-
Trailer:
Eternality Tan 
[…] second Piotr Szulkin film after The War of the Worlds: Next Century (1981), O-bi, O-ba: The End of Civilisation is just as interesting, visually and conceptually. […]
LikeLike