"Postcard from a Journey" is a messy story that doesn't know what it wants to be and what it wants from its audience. It doesn't know
if the idea is to be focused on a terrible reality or if it wants to bring some surrealism to an existing scenario (the situation faced by the
Jewish community living in Polish ghettos). It's the story of Rosenberg (Wladyslaw Kowalski), a former industrialist who, along with his few
neighbors, awaits for being transported to a concentration camp, as there's some bureaucracy that selects people from time to time, and he
stays behind working as a street cleaner. Somehow, Rosenberg knows what will come next, so he accepts everything in a sense of stoicism and
quietness, while everybody else keeps spreading rumours about potential scenarios, stories about those who managed to buy their escape or are
trying to do the same.
It's a very oppressive and claustrophobic setting where we are trapped inside the building Rosenberg lives, which gives a quite unique
and unusual view of a WWII-themed film where we don't see Nazi officers and soldiers for a long time, and we just follow the men and women
who try to exchange products and services, trying to lead their lives in the best way they can. If only there was some interesting talks between
them that didn't recur to objects and furniture; it's like they can only talk about those things instead of their pending situation.
The few brilliant moments come from Rosenberg improvising a tarot reading where he gives some hope to the women on the floor; or his
friendship with a boy (Rafal Wieczynski), where he teaches him how to hide bread on his clothing or how to escape from other people. They
have a common interest on postcards from around the world, which seems as the only way they can share some happy memories, nostalgia of better
days.
Pity that the story wanders without a goal or something interesting worth seeing and worth feeling. There are moments where it's hard to
tell if we're seeing the old man dreaming or actually being part of some tragic event, or the crazed moment where a girl keeps telling him that
the mystery man Rosenberg wants to see is right there with them in the room yet he can't see it, and when she shows the man it's a corpse on a
bathtub. If real, how come Rosenberg didn't felt the stench of a rotting corpse? The enigmatic ramblings related with people we never see, the
spreading of rumours and the constant denial of the old man with certain situations just make us question everything to later on forget them.
Waldemar Dziki's film has some nice settings, camera work and cinematography that really transports you to those small apartments, but that's not
enough to make a film memorable or good; Kowalski has an interesting performance despite the chaotic nature of the film.
Is there something to learn about accepting pending death or other sufferings? Not really. Many theories will come with this film but none
of them can make it a very interesting or rewarding experience. It's about a hopeless man just as the others around him but he tries to hide it, shows
some optimism and only breaks down because he needs to vent, at a given point, just to see how it is the force to react against opression - the
scene with the soup. All that's left was waiting; not much of an interesting subject for a film, unless if we were given his inner
thoughts or a background about his life before the war, to understand why he acts in such way. 5/10.
