O-bi, o-ba. Koniec cywilizacji

O-bi O-ba, through the dystopian Illustrating of a micro-society set in an underground dungeon after a nuclear holocaust, is surprisingly perfect. The story follows a wandering hero through different landscapes that dominate each of the levels of the refuge.

It was released in 1985, the same year as another, quite similar film: Terry Gilliam's Brazil. Perhaps something was in the air over all of Europe at the time, something moving freely and without heed of the iron curtain, something grotesque enough to bend men's minds to craft images like this one:

With a budget that we can easily guess very limited, produced in a country of the communist bloc only a few years before the collapse of the USSR, the Polish director Piotr Szulkin has succeeded beyond all these constraints to create a minimalist yet coherent and very immersive science-fiction universe. The film offers a dark and hopeless atmosphere, in an oppressive environment, here people cling on a belief, of a prophecy - the Ark. Its a metaphorical bomb all around with many possible interpretations.

Alongside Soft, the protagonist, we are gradually discovering the different layers constituting the lie, this mirage which maintains order in this society. Under these conditions, a handful of men is enough to keep the control mechanisms operational, and work to ensure that they remain so once the Dome is shattered, one step ahead of its inhabitants, obsessed with their survival and their salvation. The Dome and the Ark, the Soviet grip and the mirage of the West, is only one among many interpretations that can be found inO-bi, O-ba, political, religious or emotional. There remains a particularly desperate look on the enslaving power of belief, on the predisposition of some to embrace it and on the will of others to exploit it.

In the aftermath of a nuclear war, the last survivors are jammed together under one giant concrete dome, which is protecting the remnants of human civilization from the deadly atomic winter. As resources grow scarce people become more and more rampant, eagerly awaiting the arrival of a fabled Ark which is supposed to save them all. Amidst this mess we find Soft, whose job is to check the structural stability of their shelter. When he discovers that the dome is close to collapsing, he plunges himself into the pandemonium of the last human civilization in order to find out more about this mythical Ark.

I was able to watch a subtitled version of 'O-Bi O-Ba - The End of Civilization' at a festival, which had a segment dedicated to Eastern European sci-fi flicks. I didn't know what to expect - none of the actors rang any bells, neither did the director. Boy, was I in for a surprise! The acting is very solid throughout the movie, I especially liked the laconic fatalism of Soft's boss (Marek Walczewski) and the performances of Jan Nowicki as the Engineer, and of Soft himself (Jerzy Stuhr) who acts as our guide into the depth of the dome, and does a wonderful job of trying to keep calm and rationalize his way out of certain doom.

What struck me most, though, is that this movie works perfectly as an post-apocalyptic dystopia. It displays the (at times pointless) struggle of Soft against his and the others' fate, while at the same time painting a very dark and cynical portrait of human society living on borrowed time on the brink of certain oblivion. As we follow Soft into the underbelly of the dome's society, we discover its secrets layer by layer and realize how paper-thin the wall between madness and reason really is. I am not overly familiar with the circumstances in which the movie was made (it was shot when Poland was still a Socialist Republic), but the social commentary is quite clear. The movie lends itself to be read as criticism of a capitalist society, basically (and at times quite literally) devouring itself. My guess is that it works both ways and can also be applied as an attack on Socialist societal mechanisms (as the movie was shot during the last years of collapsing Polish Socialsm), but I'd venture on very thin ice if I were to substantialize this claim.

At the very least, this film revolves around the human condition and contests if the human race has grown in any way over the last centuries and millenia. Great stuff, go see it if you have the chance - especially if you're a fan of dystopian fiction!

Stellar cinematography gives way to average narrative devoid of the visual "shock" similar films like Threads & The Day After possess. But because it lacks shock, it is a thoroughly more enjoyable experience.

Moreover, it differentiates itself by providing insight into a less discussed aspect of the post-nuclear world:

the obnoxious nature of the human condition.

Full Review on my blog max4movies: O-bi, O-ba: Koniec Cywilizacji (international title: O-bi, O-ba: The End of Civilization) is a post-apocalyptic drama about a group of survivors who live in a decaying bunker shielding them from the outside nuclear wasteland. The movie's technical production values can be regarded as independent, lacking professional visual effects or a complex scenery. However, the characters are believable in their motivations, and the world building is extremely efficient: Within its short runtime, the plot features rich character motivation and an atmosphere that is as gritty as it is captivating. Read my full review on my blog movie-discourse.

Nothing for the post-apocalyptic action junkie but for those who like a story with some depth. Sadly, I had to watch a bad quality copy on YouTube, luckily that one got subtitles. Good if you are on the look out for something that provides a dystopian story that does not follow the path of Mad Max and its countless clones, but tries to give us a more realistic impression on a world after total mayhem. Recommended if you like movies a la The Day After, Thread etc.