U Pana Boga za piecem

A delightful Polish comedy in post communism rural Poland. When a Russian woman crosses the border into Poland. A priest who is like the town's leader decides that she must stay. The film is a comedy filmed on location in Bialystok, Poland. I found it's amusing at times about life in post communism Poland. If you enjoy Polish comedies and films, you will enjoy this one even if you don't know the language.

The action takes place in a little town in Poland close to the border with Belarus. The Soviets tried for a long time to persuade their citizens and others that Soviet = Russian. This has been believed to some extent in the neighboring countries - what makes the life of the main heroine Marusia more difficult; some people in Poland call her "Russian". Highway bandits have robbed her money, but Marusia gets help from an unexpected ad hoc conglomerate: a local Catholic priest (admirable monologues which are actually prayers to St. Mary asking for guidance), a local police chief (subject to human weaknesses but brave when it really counts) and a young organist. The priest has an agenda of his own but he does not announce it aloud, not even in his prayers to St. Mary.

Ira Laczina received a prize for her role as Marusia at the Gdynia Film Festival.

The movie has a combination of elements: lots of humor, a little suspense, and a little action. This is about life in a rural Polish town and how it is run… not by the mayor, or the police chief, but the priest. There is a heart-warming "boy meets girl" element. The title, an old idiom which translates to "safe and comfortable" really says it all, but the funny and harried action in the film certainly is not as peaceful as the title might imply. What is really amazing is that most of the cast is from the Bialystok Puppet Theater, and for most of the actors, this is their one an only movie.

My thumb is up! Enjoy!

An excellent picture of daily life in a small Polish town near the Russian border in 1990s. A mixture of romance, comedy and real life makes it a unique film. The dialogues depends heavily on in-depth understanding of Polish culture and Polish way of life - this makes the movie great, but unfortunately it also makes it of little value for foreign viewers - even if a subtitled version is ever released.