“Warsaw 1983, a state affair”, chilling political thriller under the Solidarnosc era in Poland

Young Polish director, Jan P. Matuszynski confirms his attachment to the political subject of his previous films. Warsaw 1983, an affair of state, which comes out Wednesday, May 4, is more distanced from the springs of the thriller that it borrowed previously, by denouncing the influence of an Orwellian totalitarianism on the citizens, according to a true story.

In 1983 in Warsaw, two friends bicker in the street until the police arrest Grzegorz, beaten to death in front of Jurek, who is released. The mother of the victim, an activist of the Solidarność trade union, had received threats concerning her son. Jurek decides to file a complaint against the police to denounce the death of his friend. The blunder will take on the magnitude of a political trial manipulated by the government of General Jaruzelski.

1983 corresponds to the third year of existence of the union Solidarność, in the midst of a communist dictatorship under the influence of the head of government, then head of state of the People’s Republic of Poland from 1981 to 1989, General Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski. Years of lead, not those that qualify the attacks in Italy, but that of a screed that oppresses Polish society in the last years of communism. Born in 1984, in this dictatorial swan song, director Jan P. Matuszynski evokes with eloquence and sobriety the lies of a criminal regime, ready to do anything to stay in power.

The director exposes facts, nothing but facts. His observing camera is distanced and the film seeks neither lyricism nor feelings. The choice of staging, with cold colors and lights, reinforces the impression of oppression. Fear, suspicion and mistrust inhabit the city, the streets, the buildings. This social “dissociation” is undoubtedly the reason why the first trade union born under a communist regime was aptly called Solidarity.

Jurek is alone, even surrounded. If he finds support, it is in Father Popieluszko who will be assassinated in 1984. Courageous, it is a way of the cross that he crosses in this world in decline, as if he were sinking at each stage a little more in a country whose governance is obsessed with controlling a society that escapes it. An ordinary, sacrificial hero, whose terrible fate is portrayed with tact, humility and respect.

Gender : political thriller, biopic
Director : Jan P. Matuszynski
Actors : Tomasz Zietek, Sandra Korzeniak, Jacek Braciak
Country : Poland / Czech Republic / France
Duration : 2h39
Exit : May 4, 2022
Distributer : Memento Distribution

Synopsis : Warsaw 1983. The son of an activist close to Solidarność is beaten to death by the police. Lies threats: the totalitarian regime of General Jaruzelski will try by all means to prevent the holding of a fair trial.