THE CRUISE [1970]
year:
- 1970
release date:
- 19 X 1970
runtime:
- 65 min
directed by:
- Marek Piwowski
written by:
- Janusz Głowacki, Marek Piwowski
director of photography:
- Marek Nowicki
cast:
- Stanisław Tym [cultural coordinator], Zdzisław Maklakiewicz [engineer Mamoń], Wanda Stanisławska-Lothe [Krysia, Mamoń’s wife], Jan Himilsbach [Sidorowski], Jolanta Lothe [girl in the bathing suit], Jerzy Dobrowolski [stowaway, cultural coordinator’s friend], Andrzej Dobosz [a philosopher], Feridun Erol [a sailor], Jerzy Karaszkiewicz [an angler], Ryszard Pietruski [boat captain], Wojciech Pokora [a cruise participant], Roman Suszko [professor], Wacław Antczak [a member of the competition committee], Maciej Michalak
edited by:
- Lidia Pacewicz
music by:
- Wojciech Kilar
production design:
- Wiesław Śniadecki
produced by:
- Studio Filmowe „Tor”
executive producer:
- Tadeusz Urbanowicz
awards:
-
• Cinema Enthusiasts Award Samovar 1972
• "Polityka" end of the century poll in 1999: first place in the poll "The most interesting Polish films of the twentieth century"
About the film
The film, made in a para-documentary fashion by observing improvised scenes, is one of the most original Polish satirical comedies. The grotesque tone, surreal dialogues using the communist regime’s newspeak, and characters and situations typical of the contemporary reality, give the film the dimension of an allegory.
A stowaway gets onboard a cruise boat on the Vistula from Warsaw to Płock. The captain mistakes him for a cultural coordinator. Surprised and scared, the stowaway is trying to play the role imposed upon him: he organises meetings, contests, games and activities onboard, trying to involve the passengers. He gains allies among the people who harbour hidden organisational and dictatorial instincts. The passengers begin offering their own ideas for organising the cultural life on the boat. Shaken out of its apathy, the boat’s micro society is suddenly overcome with its collective enthusiasm for recreation: they organise the captain’s feast, and a masquerade ball, which is to be a synthesis of physical fitness with culture and art. Events take a dangerous turn, but the avalanche cannot be stopped even by the organisers themselves. The accidental coordinator revels in his newly gained power and control over the completely devoted tour participants.
Jan Słodowski, Leksykon polskich filmów fabularnych, Warszawa 1996
