Poznan June Poznan 56 was directed by Polish director Philip Bayon in the year of the fortieth anniversary of the tragic events, dubbed Poznan June. Bayon was born and raised in Poznan, in June 1956 he was almost nine years old. The specifics of the film made by Bayon suggests that, most likely, his childhood memories formed the basis of Poznan 56. The picture is sustained in black and white colors - in modern cinema this technique is often used to give the director's work documentary. The main characters are two schoolchildren - Petrek and Darek, the story is conducted on behalf of Darek. Poznan 56 is a grotesque fantasy film in which the director combines his irrational childhood impressions with an adult rational analysis of the historical event. It should be noted that as a work of art of the film "Poznan 56" rather failed - its value as a kind of source of personal origin is much higher than the value of artistic.
The plot of the film consists of events that unfolded within one day - June 28, 1956. Bayon in Poznan 56 does not specifically focus on the causes of the protest of Polish workers – he is interested in the protest itself, specifically – the emotional and psychological content of the riots, depicted as a kind of “Polish rebellion” – senseless and merciless. The origins of this rebellion in the picture can be traced in small details and symbols.
So, in the dialogues of the characters, mentions of their domestic difficulties, connected mainly with the housing issue, slip through. The main characters - Darek and Petrek - at the beginning of the film there is a dispute about what the sausage is made of, which they are going to steal - it is clear that sausage products are not included in their usual diet. By the way, the increase in meat prices and / or its shortage has traditionally been the main cause for protests of the proletariat throughout the history of the Polish People's Republic.
One of the secondary characters of the film makes a sarcastic remark that it is possible to try a real banana or orange only at the international fair held at this time in Poznan. The banana, which came by chance at the fair to Petrek, becomes a symbolic image of the food problems of the Poles, for whom in 1956 it was not just a fruit, but a curiosity, an unprecedented delicacy; bananas, like citrus fruits, will appear on the shelves of Polish shops only in the first half of the 1970s. In this regard, the dialogue of schoolchildren is characteristic, who at first lost sight of each other in the midst of the riots, but then met again.
After you left, Zenek and I took over five branches. One unit was defending and two of us were injured. Then we went, but we got shot. The driver hid in the reeds, and Zenek and I ran after him. We then took one of our motorcycles and went to the radio to make a statement. Do you see how much you missed?
- I didn't miss anything. I ate a banana.
Zenek and Stas, according to the plot of the film, are one of the organizers of the strike at the factory (it is not called, but it is, judging by the scenery, a car repair plant of the Zonana machine-building plant). At the beginning, they together, embracing and jubilant, go as part of a column of workers in the center of the city to the administrative buildings. Here, on Stalin Square, the Pozna tragedy has its immediate beginning. There are fundamental differences between Stas and Zenek. Stas is aimed at establishing contact with the authorities and peacefully pressing the demands of the workers in dialogue with them. The younger and more reckless Zenek is irreconcilable and sees no point in waiting for the start of any negotiations. Quite by chance, a rumor about the arrest of workers' delegates is picked up by Zenek (who knows that this is not true) - he calls on the assembled workers to march to storm the prison. No one listens or hears the words of Stas.
The director clearly demonstrates the main and fatal miscalculation of the Poznan protests - uncontrollability, lack of leaders. It was in the absence of clear leadership that the radicals were able to intercept the initiative, giving an uncontrollable crowd an impetus to start bacchanalia. Philip Bayon in a very surreal and fantastic manner shows this orgy, but at the same time respects the accuracy in key details and clearly indicates the main stages of the events of June 28, 1956.
The director in his film visualizes, conveys in the language of cinema the psychological atmosphere in Poznan - the ecstasy of his strength, the excitement, the illusion of his own omnipotence of the crowd. These feelings were reinforced many times and irreversibly after the storming of the prison provided the protesters with weapons of war; in addition, at this moment, the released criminals pour into the crowd, taking the role of instigators and active participants in the riots.
It’s hard to imagine Philip Bayon overlooking such a controversial episode of Poznań June as the shooting outside the Public Security Administration building. Bayon, who was a child at the time, certainly cannot know who fired the first shot. But the director makes it clear that this is not so important, that this kind of discussion is inherently meaningless. In circumstances where a large number of small arms fall into random hands, especially when the owners of these hands mistakenly believe that they can now do everything, bloody skirmishes are inevitable. The first shot is captured in the film so that it is impossible to determine who and from which side it was produced.
The director is not inclined to put all the blame on one side. Protesters stage pogroms, brutally lynch a captured secret police agent, after the introduction of troops into the city almost execute a tanker who came to them for negotiations. But after the suppression of the riots, the law enforcement agencies begin to apply inhuman measures of physical and psychological influence to the detainees.
Filming in 1996, Philip Bayon already knows about the power of the alliance between the intelligentsia and the proletariat - there is an eloquent experience of Polish Solidarity. One of the main reasons for the tragedy of June 1956, the director sees in the absence of such a union at that time. The Polish intelligentsia in this picture is symbolized by several professors stuck at a railway station in a detached car. They occasionally appear in the frame as sympathetic but indifferent witnesses and commentators, observing the little that allows the angle of view of the windows of the car. It is difficult for them to understand what is happening at all, although the lynching scene they see shocks them to the core.
The wagon disconnected from the train is that isolated space where the intelligentsia unsuccessfully tries to understand what is happening and, without getting involved in the process, draw up at least some resolution; by the way, this very carriage was built by the hands of the car-builders, that is, the environment in which the intelligentsia exists is built by the labor of the proletariat. The professors do not succeed in summing up what they have seen, despite at least two attempts - they only come to the conclusion that they have seen absolutely nothing.
Please, dear colleagues, the time has come for conclusions.
- You will be able to read the conclusions in tomorrow's newspapers, colleague Dean.
5.5 out of 10