The End of Civilization: Three Films By Piotr Szulkin

Masquerading as both works of science fiction and horror, Piotr Szulkin's satirical, surrealistic apocalypse trilogy is Polish cinema's best-kept secret. These highly imaginative works of fantasy are bound by a preoccupation with the machinations of power and a distinct, visual sensibility. In a radical reworking of the H.G. Wells classic, The War of the Worlds: Next Century, tells the story of Iron Idem (Roman Wilhelmi), a television host, who finds himself contending with a Martian invasion, whose takeover involves collaborating with the state and manipulating the populace through a media apparatus made up entirely of fake news. Meanwhile, in O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization, the survivors of a claustrophobic, subterranean world in ruins are pacified by Soft (Jerzy Stuhr), who engineers a mass collective dream of escape through means of a mythical vessel, The Ark. Finally, in the darkly comic Ga, Ga: Glory to the Heroes, Scope (Daniel Olbrychski) must be tried and convicted of a heinous crime for him to participate in a bloody, televised gladiator contest. Frequently butting heads with Polish authorities both before and after the collapse of Communism, writer and director Piotr Szulkin remains a unique visual stylist whose parables of power transcend easy genre pigeonholing.