Henryk Bista Movies

A rube goes to work in the big city and finds himself victimized by the government system he was trained to support in this Polish comedy set in the year of Solidarity, 1991. Country boy Tomasz works in a power plant. He feels alone because he doesn't understand his co-worker's impassioned support of Lech Walesa and unionization. His boss asks him to sneak into an illegal rally and note who is there. Unfortunately, Tomasz is deeply affected by the group and joins the unionists in singing patriotic songs. The police come and break up the rally. A chase ensues. The next day poor Tomasz is arrested because his picture was in the paper with the other unionists. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

As he sleeplessly tosses and turns in his bed, the middle-aged protagonist of this Polish film (played by Zbigniew Rola) remembers his many purely sexual encounters with women who were as determined to achieve sexual release as he was. These couplings are shown in the form of flashbacks, and his general attitude of despair at his lack of human connection with these women becomes increasingly evident. As a result of his promiscuity, he also has become a familiar figure at VD clinics. Despite the titillating nature of the images (and the consequent popularity of the film in Poland), the overall message of the movie is that promiscuous, loveless sex is debasing in precisely the same way that pornography is. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Director Tadeus Konwicki adapted his screenplay for Lawa from the famous Adam Mickewicz poem Dziady In slow, symbolic fashion, the film recounts the loss of Polish independence. Gustav Holoubez plays the Mickewicz counterpart, while Maja Komorawska essays the dual role of the Pilgrim and the Wizard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The labyrinthine plot deals with a group of space researchers who left the Earth to find freedom. Their spaceship crashes and they land on the dark side of the Moon. They all die except one and leave a lot of children who eventually turn to shamanism and fire worship. They call the last survivor the Old Man and simultaneously loathe and revere him. Finally, the Old Man retreats to the mountains, puts his video diary into a small rocket and sends it to Earth. The rocket reaches its destination and the notes fall into the hands of another group of researchers. One of them, Marek, journeys to the Old Man's planet and lands in the mountains. When he emerges from the hills, the aboriginal inhabitants mistake him for the long-awaited reincarnation of the Old Man and look to him to deliver them from the dreaded sherns -- strange, winged mutants. The making of this film in 1978 was brutally interrupted by the Polish Ministry of Culture. When about 80% of the shooting was complete, they ordered the filmmakers to destroy all related materials. This decision caused director Andrzej Zulawski to leave his homeland for France, where he spent the next ten years. During the democratization of the Polish political regime in 1986-1987, Zulawski returned to the country to finish the picture. Having lost the sets, costumes, actors, and momentum, the director chose to complete the film from the spared footage, adding a voiceover for the missing episodes and utilizing other actors to dub the original actors who were no longer available. Even in this mutilated form, the film appears as a highly ambitious, if overwrought, sci-fi epic that draws upon philosophical concepts rather than special effects. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

Wojciech is nothing if not difficult, bitter, vituperative, cynical and suspicious. In this black comedy, he is also a quintessential victim of circumstances. Nothing seems to go right in his life, and this, it seems, is as it should be. As he tells his mousy wife, whom he hates with a special passion: "You have to be attractive to have attractive things happen to you." On one occasion, the decidedly unattractive man becomes subjected to harassment by not one but three policemen while out taking an innocent stroll. His family and neighbors receive the same treatment from him that he dishes out to his wife, and his nearly forgotten son appears to be storing up his unhappy experiences in order to have an Inner Life at least as rich (and ugly) as his father's. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Named for a 1965 Beatles' song, this standard teen drama is about a quartet of students who form a band with the express purpose of playing Beatles' music for a special concert at graduation time. Short on cash, they more or less hotwire some makeshift amplifying equipment and then proceed to shock the bananas out of one of the players, who ends up in the hospital. The poor, fried band player does not know it, but his girlfriend is in trouble with the school authorities for some hanky-panky with someone else. A friend saves the day, and life goes on -- and on. A glimpse of the future reveals the results of these halcyon high school days. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A bloody national rebellion tears apart Poland in this historical drama. Duke Odrowaz (Olgierd Lukaszewicz) is a wounded nobleman who is the only survivor of a violent battle. He is given refuge in a burned-out manor by Salomea (Malgorzata Pieczynska), the daughter of a local land steward. She helps the Duke recover from his injuries, as the Cossacks lay waste to the region. Neither the loyal nobles or the Cossacks are readily embraced by the people who suffer from the war that rages on around them. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This detective thriller joins the search for a serial killer whose target is boys between the ages of eight and eleven. The police commissioner is puzzled to find that the clues lead to his own home. It seems that he has been having an adversarial relationship with his teenaged son, and the boy has made friends with a very suspicious character. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

After Poland won freedom from of its long overlordship by Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, it took a further four years for its National Assembly to elect Gabriel Narutowicz as its first president. Narutowicz was a professor who until his election had been living in Switzerland. Those were chaotic times, and shortly after his election, he was assassinated by right-wing fanatics. This epic Polish film chronicles the circumstances of Narutowicz's election and assassination. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide