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Golem

  • 19801980
  • 1h 32m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
691
YOUR RATING
Golem (1980)
Sci-Fi
The film is set in a terrorizing world of the future, where technology commands the movements of individuals, supervised by the doctors, carrying out a program to improve the human race. Thu... Read allThe film is set in a terrorizing world of the future, where technology commands the movements of individuals, supervised by the doctors, carrying out a program to improve the human race. Thus, instead of doctors creating a monster, the monsters are already there as the species of... Read allThe film is set in a terrorizing world of the future, where technology commands the movements of individuals, supervised by the doctors, carrying out a program to improve the human race. Thus, instead of doctors creating a monster, the monsters are already there as the species of the future - but one of them is suspected by the doctors of being a human being. That is ... Read all
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
691
YOUR RATING
    • Piotr Szulkin
    • Piotr Szulkin(screenplay)
    • Tadeusz Sobolewski(screenplay)
    • Gustav Meyrink(novel)
  • Stars
    • Marek Walczewski
    • Krystyna Janda
    • Joanna Zólkowska
    • Piotr Szulkin
    • Piotr Szulkin(screenplay)
    • Tadeusz Sobolewski(screenplay)
    • Gustav Meyrink(novel)
  • Stars
    • Marek Walczewski
    • Krystyna Janda
    • Joanna Zólkowska
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 4User reviews
    • 2Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Photos44

    Golem (1980)
    Golem (1980)
    Golem (1980)
    Golem (1980)
    Golem (1980)
    Golem (1980)
    Golem (1980)
    Golem (1980)
    Golem (1980)
    Golem (1980)
    Golem (1980)
    Golem (1980)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Marek Walczewski
    Marek Walczewski
    • Pernat
    Krystyna Janda
    Krystyna Janda
    • Rozyna
    Joanna Zólkowska
    Joanna Zólkowska
    • Miriam
    Anna Jaraczówna
    Anna Jaraczówna
    • Old Woman
    Mariusz Dmochowski
    Mariusz Dmochowski
    • Holtrum, Rozyna's Father
    Wieslaw Drzewicz
    Wieslaw Drzewicz
    • Miriam's Father
    Henryk Bak
    Henryk Bak
    • Warehouseman in Detention Center
    Jan Nowicki
    Jan Nowicki
    • Champion of Sleep
    Wojciech Pszoniak
    Wojciech Pszoniak
    • Prisoner
    Krzysztof Majchrzak
    Krzysztof Majchrzak
    • Rozyna's Brother
    Grazyna Bernacka
    • Assistant to Dentist - Ophthalmologist
    Zofia Czerwinska
    Zofia Czerwinska
    • Toilet Grandma
    Natalia Sikorska
    Arkadiusz Bazak
    Arkadiusz Bazak
    • Medical Chief
    Zbigniew Buczkowski
    Zbigniew Buczkowski
    • Male Nurse
    Emil Karewicz
    Emil Karewicz
    • First Doctor
    Ryszard Kotys
    Ryszard Kotys
    • Elevator Operator
    Stanislaw Manturzewski
    Stanislaw Manturzewski
      • Piotr Szulkin
      • Piotr Szulkin(screenplay)
      • Tadeusz Sobolewski(screenplay)
      • Gustav Meyrink(novel)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Final film/of Anna Jaraczówna.
    • Connections
      References Frankenstein (1931)

    User reviews4

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Kafkaesque claustrophobia meets surrealism in a sci-fi retelling of a classic story
    As the opening credits and the title reveal, Piotr Szulkin's debut proper, following a series of experimental shorts and TV work, is a retelling of Gustav Meyrink's classic story of the Golem, a clay figure magically animated by a rabbi to protect a Jewish community somewhere in Germany. Szulkin emphasizes the prophetic nature of the story by transposing it somewhere in the near future, with scientists experimenting with eugenics to create a new race of superhumans after witnessing the devastating effects of a nuclear war.

    Unlike Paul Wagener's automaton-with-a-heart from his silent classic of German expressionism, Szulkin's golem is a common man in appearance and more human than the actual humans in heart and soul. His name is Pernat and he's a copper craftsman living in a shabby apartment block. The first scene finds him interrogated for the murder of a doctor that lived in a nearby apartment, a murder he knows nothing about. The nightmarish, claustrophobic mood established by this early scene that seems to recall Kafka's THE TRIAL is sustained throughout, embedded from all sides with surrealism, dark humour, social commentary and general absurdity.

    A great example of the socially-minded dark surrealism Szulkin goes for is a scene where Pernat, our golem, is invited into a cinema by the cranky old father of a girl he meets, or as he calls it the Church of Transfiguration. Once inside Pernat witnesses the projection of a commercial, sung by children voices to the tune of the Christmas carol, advertising sleeping pills (called 'Happy Dorm' - "sleep from night to morning is what Happy Dorm will bring")! The commercial follows a particularly creepy second one advertising plastic surgery. As all this is happening the father who is sitting next to him is dozing off. He then walks to the toilet (which is plastered with posters portraying FRANKENSTEIN, THE WOLF MAN and PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES) and removes his own face, while the cleaning lady is slamming on the door.

    Later on, another character rants on about the voyeurism of theater audiences, how they watch movies for sentimentality and schmaltz, so they can feel themselves more human compared to the characters on screen. What may sound as the disillusioned preaching of an avant-garde director speaking through his own characters, bears relevance to the larger frame of the movie. As one of the scientists who created Pernat replies to the question of another: "what makes you so sure (Pernat) is human?".

    Filmed around a shabby apartment block in dark orange hues, like the sepia tinting of a silent film, GOLEM works more often than not, has a point to get across, and in the same time marks Szulkin as a visionary auteur in his own right. His later sci-fi movies were more playfull and inventive (no doubt helped by significantly higher budgets), but the social commentary, satiric approach and black humour are constants in his work. From the claustrophobic opening to the enigmatic ending, with its kafkaesque ambiance and small tributes to other films (THE TRIAL, BRAZIL, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and possibly CITIZEN KANE in the end-credits scene), GOLEM is worth your time.
    helpful•35
    3
    • chaos-rampant
    • Dec 23, 2008

    Details

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    • Release date
      • March 18, 1980 (Poland)
      • Poland
      • Polish
    • Also known as
      • Poland
    • Production company
      • Zespol Filmowy "Perspektywa"
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 32 minutes
      • Color
      • Mono

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