Blind Chance (1987)
December 5, 2024 6:34 AM - Subscribe
Witek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life. Written and directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski, the Three Colors trilogy guy. (1987 (1981) Poland 114m.)
Link rot has claimed a lot of reviews.
Chicago Reader: Krzysztof Kieslowski describes three possible destinies for a young man (Boguslaw Linda) running to catch a train. This 1981 feature is a massive, highly detailed fresco of post-martial-law Poland, with interesting asides on the church, Polish Jewry, etc. The performances are uniformly excellent. Yet somehow this seems strangely hollow; all three of the hero’s “journeys” through Polish society are rather predictable, and a strong internal dynamic might have created more tension between the individual stories. Part of the problem might be that, even at 120 minutes, it strains to say too much.
NextProjection?: If we’re to take Camera Buff as Krzysztof Kieslowski’s masterpiece, in the traditional sense—and we should; its earnest self-interrogation renders it as much of an artistic raison d’être as Andrei Rublev—then the opening movement of Blind Chance is the extraordinary effort of a master at work. His first theatrical feature shot in the wake of that film, albeit one delayed some six years due to censorship, this tremendous tripartite tale—tracing the life of the young student Witek across three alternate timelines in succession—uses an aesthetic and editorial approach in its founding moments to artfully establish a bedrock of political and public chaos to make maddeningly necessary the alternate existences he proceeds to explore. It’s not only for its most famous direct descendant that it might well be named Run Poland Run.
Link rot has claimed a lot of reviews.
Chicago Reader: Krzysztof Kieslowski describes three possible destinies for a young man (Boguslaw Linda) running to catch a train. This 1981 feature is a massive, highly detailed fresco of post-martial-law Poland, with interesting asides on the church, Polish Jewry, etc. The performances are uniformly excellent. Yet somehow this seems strangely hollow; all three of the hero’s “journeys” through Polish society are rather predictable, and a strong internal dynamic might have created more tension between the individual stories. Part of the problem might be that, even at 120 minutes, it strains to say too much.
NextProjection?: If we’re to take Camera Buff as Krzysztof Kieslowski’s masterpiece, in the traditional sense—and we should; its earnest self-interrogation renders it as much of an artistic raison d’être as Andrei Rublev—then the opening movement of Blind Chance is the extraordinary effort of a master at work. His first theatrical feature shot in the wake of that film, albeit one delayed some six years due to censorship, this tremendous tripartite tale—tracing the life of the young student Witek across three alternate timelines in succession—uses an aesthetic and editorial approach in its founding moments to artfully establish a bedrock of political and public chaos to make maddeningly necessary the alternate existences he proceeds to explore. It’s not only for its most famous direct descendant that it might well be named Run Poland Run.
I have only seen White as an adult and maybe Blue as a feckless youth, so I don't know much about Kieslowski, or Polish political history for that matter.
I do feel like this movie "strains to say too much", but I don't see that as a negative. It is thick with cynical wisdom. It's an intelligent and extremely well put together film and I wouldn't change a thing about it. No part of it at all made me think it was doing anything unnecessary or losing me or not saying what it wanted to say etc. I do understand the criticism that the stories could be more integrated, but while that would feel clever I think it would cheapen it too.
This movie and others made me think of a certain genre of film in oppressive societies (like Where is the Friends House and Four Months Three Weeks Two Days or Police, Adjective, or even the one I watched recently Teachers' Lounge where the oppressive society isn't a whole nation but the school), that I am calling THIS MFER TRIED TO DO A GOOD DEED. I seem to like them.
I do feel the howling in this movie for a better world, the desire to do what's best and lead a greater life. Witek is just one guy though, and as a particular young family-less human, he wants a patron he can trust and serve, and a wife he can love and be loved by. He gets the most of these last two in the third story. One of the scenes that struck me hard was where Witek sees the jugglers and recognizes their skill, but it's a useless skill.
I also really enjoyed the first story. I don't know anything about the Polish Politburo circa 1980, but I could feel out the factions, old guard vs new guard, his patron as a sidelined player, a loser, probably looking for more power and selling some bullshit. I also loved his girlfriend pushing in his nose when she found out he joined the Party. And of course her line "come back to see me when you're a Minister, so I can spit in your face".
The figure of Werner is strange. For awhile I thought he was an echo or memory of Witek's dead father. I'm still not sure that's not the case, because of how he fades from the movie and seems very important but is pointedly unable to provide much-needed guidance to Witek. Werner's position in the movie as the audience sees it is a lot like a vanished father, saying things we're not ready to understand, a thesis statement that just drifts away on the wind, as Witek's story moves further away from him and ends with a version where he is his own man, free from any of that.
posted by fleacircus at 5:05 AM on December 6 [1 favorite]
I do feel like this movie "strains to say too much", but I don't see that as a negative. It is thick with cynical wisdom. It's an intelligent and extremely well put together film and I wouldn't change a thing about it. No part of it at all made me think it was doing anything unnecessary or losing me or not saying what it wanted to say etc. I do understand the criticism that the stories could be more integrated, but while that would feel clever I think it would cheapen it too.
This movie and others made me think of a certain genre of film in oppressive societies (like Where is the Friends House and Four Months Three Weeks Two Days or Police, Adjective, or even the one I watched recently Teachers' Lounge where the oppressive society isn't a whole nation but the school), that I am calling THIS MFER TRIED TO DO A GOOD DEED. I seem to like them.
I do feel the howling in this movie for a better world, the desire to do what's best and lead a greater life. Witek is just one guy though, and as a particular young family-less human, he wants a patron he can trust and serve, and a wife he can love and be loved by. He gets the most of these last two in the third story. One of the scenes that struck me hard was where Witek sees the jugglers and recognizes their skill, but it's a useless skill.
I also really enjoyed the first story. I don't know anything about the Polish Politburo circa 1980, but I could feel out the factions, old guard vs new guard, his patron as a sidelined player, a loser, probably looking for more power and selling some bullshit. I also loved his girlfriend pushing in his nose when she found out he joined the Party. And of course her line "come back to see me when you're a Minister, so I can spit in your face".
The figure of Werner is strange. For awhile I thought he was an echo or memory of Witek's dead father. I'm still not sure that's not the case, because of how he fades from the movie and seems very important but is pointedly unable to provide much-needed guidance to Witek. Werner's position in the movie as the audience sees it is a lot like a vanished father, saying things we're not ready to understand, a thesis statement that just drifts away on the wind, as Witek's story moves further away from him and ends with a version where he is his own man, free from any of that.
posted by fleacircus at 5:05 AM on December 6 [1 favorite]
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posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:41 AM on December 5 [1 favorite]