O-bi, o-ba. Koniec cywilizacji

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.

I like Polish films, I've seen a lot, all of Andrzej Wajda's films, all of Polanski's, some of Jerzy Skolimowski's, some of Andrzej Zulawski's, some of Krzysztof Kieslowski's, some of Krzysztof Zanussi's, etc. They are not easy to digest, just as this "O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization" is not (the meaning of "O-Bi, O-Ba" is not clear at all). It is the first film made by director Piotr Szulkin that I have seen. I saw Jerzy Stuhr in the very special "Sexmission" (1984) and in "A Year of the Quiet Sun" (1984). I saw the beautiful Krystyna Janda in "Man of Iron" (1981), "Mephisto" (1981), "The Conductor" (1980), "Man of Marble" (1977). Another well-known name is Leon Niemczyk, probably the most prolific Polish actor of all time (325 films) seen by me in many, the most famous being "Knife in the Water" (1962). OK, about the movie now: I'm not going to narrate it like many do. I'll just say that it's worth seeing, even though it's just talk in a closed space, an underground bunker (where, strange situation, after the nuclear war, there is electricity, there are neon lights everywhere). The fact that it is filmed a lot in motion by the talented Witold Sobocinski, mitigates the phenomenon of claustrophobia.

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.

I saw this movie in Hungary a long time ago, and it immediately became one of my all-time favorites, sharing this distinguished title with Tarantino's & Spielberg's films. (I haven't been successful in locating a dubbed or captioned English version so far. English language support would greatly increase the chances of this masterpiece for being recognized across the world.)

The movie is totally grotesque, and often shocking, spiced up with the perfect amount of cynicism & delicate humor. It is the ultimate depressing negative utopia; much superior in every sense to most flicks spewed up by Hollywood in the same genre.

A dystopian post-nuclear war society survives with enormous difficulties, while waiting for a miraculous rescue.

A dark but interesting vision, reminiscent of some comics from the 80s, such as Heavy Metal, of a post-nuclear future, condemned to crime and the fight for survival.

The faith of many and the madness of others is opposed to the skeptical lucidity of the elites, who seek an unlikely solution for an almost impossible survival.

Die now or live another day? It seems to be the essential question posed to these survivors, increasingly tired of their fortune.

It certainly deserves to be seen, especially by fans of dystopian and post-apocalyptic themes.