Success Is the Best Revenge (1984)

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Alex Rodak (Michael York) is a Polish director in exile in London with his family, which includes an older teenage son Adam (Michael Lyndon) who is struggling with an identity crisis, his wife (Joanna Szerzerbic), and another son. Rodak is in the throes of putting together a major show about Poland and the politics of exile at a West End theater. His single-minded determination to succeed causes him to take advantage of others, and because of his need for backing, he turns to a low-life businessman (John Hurt) to bail him out. His wife is anything but happy about his behavior and dislikes this last decision even more. On the opposite end of the spectrum stands Adam, who is disillusioned with his father's drive to succeed at all costs (the father does receive a few awards) and who longs to go back to his roots -- in Warsaw. The story jumps from one scene to the next with some fantasy segments and not always enough connecting narrative. Otherwise, this is an interesting study of how a father and son become alienated in a conflict between cultural identity and its exploitation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi