This documentary consists almost entirely of an interview with a former factory manager in Poland, who describes in great detail, the blatant corruption of the communist regime at that time. He tells numerous stories of party officials misappropriating money and resources for their own personal gain, and promoting those in the inner-circle. It paints a very demoralising picture of life in Poland under communism, not only the corruption, but subsequent oppression of anyone who attempts to oppose it.
This is one of Kieslowski's last documentaries, as he abandoned the form in the face of increasing censorship, which clearly helps inform the perspective of this film. It's not an ambitious film in terms of it's visual style, a talking-head interview with occasional cutaways to the exterior of the apartment building, but the frankness of the content and the genuine emotion expressed is compelling. The anguish of what the protagonist has experienced and the pain in having to recall it is palpable. That, as much as the actually story being told, speaks loudest to the suffering of the Polish people.
Not documentary that draws attention to itself, but definitely memorable.
