Sztos

I enjoyed watching "Sztos". The film takes the form of an extended retrospection. The characters, contemporary people with a position, having their own, almost legal businesses, recall with nostalgia the old days, when in the Poland of early Gierek, as petty crooks, they were just starting to make bigger money in the area around Gdansk, Gdynia, and Sopot. In "Sztos" I liked the fast-paced action and good capture of the realities of the Polish People's Republic. Many elements of the Tri-City underworld, i.e., situations and people, looked authentic. The acting was also good, especially of Jan Nowicki. And some scenes were terribly funny. Overall, however, I had much less sympathy for those characters than, for example, for Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the memorable "The Sting" from 1973. It is also hard for me to believe that this is what the beginning of Polish capitalism looked like. But "Sztos" is definitely decent entertainment.