Unlike the reviewer "carioca-6," I have never seen this film available in the U.S. for rent or sale in any video format. It is not available from Netflix as of early 2008. I have seen it only once, when I lived in Detroit. Living near the border, I could pick up some Canadian stations, and "The Interrogation" was shown probably in late 1991 on the old TVOntario series "Film International" hosted by Jay Scott. Nevertheless, so riveting was this film that I have never forgotten it. Within the first couple of minutes, the film establishes that Tonia is a young pretty blonde---she is a wife and mother but doesn't seem to take this role too seriously--who is apolitical (risky in Communist Poland) and mostly out to have a good time. Without warning or reason, the film plunges her into a Kafkaesque nightmare of arrest, interrogation, conviction and imprisonment. She loses her youth, her health, everything but her own inner resources, and as the outside world forgets her, she develops dignity and a will to survive. Still worth seeing, despite the collapse of the government under which it was made, as a character portrait and a study of man's inhumanity to (wo)man. There are places on Earth where this still goes on, and they are not so far away as we'd like to think.
9 Reviews
No question about the power of 'Interrogation'
cawkwell50030 October 2012
Occasionally a film about which you know nothing comes along and knocks you down. This is even more remarkable when it is 30 years old. It is what in Poland they call a polkownik or 'shelf movie', that is to say a film that was so explosive it had to be put on a shelf and not shown. Bugajski made Interrogation/Przesluchanie in Poland in 1982 and finished principal photography a week before martial law was declared. He then buried the film, literally, in order to keep it from being destroyed. With the end of Polish Communism it resurfaced in 1989, being premiered in the UK in 1990, and was the official Polish entry at Cannes in 1990. The story is compelling: in 1951 a young woman, Tonia Dziwisz, is arrested when she is drunk, and thrown into prison where the UBeks, a major and Lieutenant Morawski, try to force her to spill the beans on Olcha, a war resistance hero she had slept with, in a way that would condemn him to death, regardless of whether what she said was true or false. But it is not just the story that compels, but the way it is made. Much of it is in close-up, a style I am normally wary of, but Bugajski uses it to convey the visceral nature of mental and physical torture. There are some medium shots in the film, and towards the end a long shot is used to convey how distant the outside world has become. But mostly we see the faces of both victims and torturers wrestling with inner demons. Is it true? Yes. It starts in Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon territory, and develops into a cat-and-mouse psychological thriller. I think fiction takes over here, but it only shows how fiction is more powerful and more true than fact. I never have nightmares, but this film gave me one. Highly recommended.
fantastic film-making and stunning performances
wojtekzbislawski17 December 2005
this is mr bugajski's first and only masterpiece a depressive study of an official machine of torture in the stalinist poland and of a stunning will to live of an individual
excellent dark and anxious photography and impressive acting with cannes best actress award winner krystyna janda and underestimated great polish characteristic actor janusz gajos
i've seen it in a small dilapidated post-socialist cinema in my city in the early nineties and it was running as a loud blockbuster here in poland at that time-it was advertised as a 'shelf movie' ('polkownik':)as it was banned for several years in the eighties when poland was ruled by a soviet-backed military junta
i can honestly recommend it-it's a piece of the first-class cinema
excellent dark and anxious photography and impressive acting with cannes best actress award winner krystyna janda and underestimated great polish characteristic actor janusz gajos
i've seen it in a small dilapidated post-socialist cinema in my city in the early nineties and it was running as a loud blockbuster here in poland at that time-it was advertised as a 'shelf movie' ('polkownik':)as it was banned for several years in the eighties when poland was ruled by a soviet-backed military junta
i can honestly recommend it-it's a piece of the first-class cinema
A disturbingly shocking film- banned for 8 years!
carioca-630 May 2001
Warning: Spoilers
This is must see viewing as a masterpiece of the political prisoner or torture film genre. Or for those curious about recent Eastern European history. It is also among the top films made by Poland, which turned more high quality cinema than any other country from the former Eastern block.
As the title implies, what we see here is a (forced) confession in Stalinist Poland. After a one-night stand with a military officer, a cabaret singer is imprisoned by the secret police, without ever being informed of her alleged crime. For the next five years, she is subjected to harrowing torture and harassment, which she doggedly withstands in a struggle to maintain her dignity and sanity.
The film was executive produced by Polish living legend A. Wajda, and produced through the sate-run film studio during a period of relative liberalism in Poland. But, then came martial law after the Solidarity Movement gained worldwide attention.
Thus, upon its completion in 1982, "Interrogation" was banned by the Polish government for being "inflammatory and dangerous". Years later, the director managed to smuggle a copy of his film out of the country. It soon-after opened at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, garnering a Best Actress Award for Kristina Janda for her stunning performance. Ms. Janda is a fixture in Polish films since the late 70s to the late 90s. She can be seen in most politically oriented Polish films of the 80s.
An another interesting feature is seeing A. Holland in a major acting role. She went on to become one of the top female directors in all of Europe (and North America) in the 90s, with high profile films in French, German and English.
This film is a gem, and it is available world wide in video. In the US and in Brazil, the film is available at many mainstream stores I've visited in the foreign section. You'll recognize it by the label across its cover stating- BANNED FOR EIGHT YEARS. As commercial as this might first appear (a la "banned in Boston!), after you see the film, you will understand why it would be have banned at all cost by any totalitarian regime. The film is a shocker!
As the title implies, what we see here is a (forced) confession in Stalinist Poland. After a one-night stand with a military officer, a cabaret singer is imprisoned by the secret police, without ever being informed of her alleged crime. For the next five years, she is subjected to harrowing torture and harassment, which she doggedly withstands in a struggle to maintain her dignity and sanity.
The film was executive produced by Polish living legend A. Wajda, and produced through the sate-run film studio during a period of relative liberalism in Poland. But, then came martial law after the Solidarity Movement gained worldwide attention.
Thus, upon its completion in 1982, "Interrogation" was banned by the Polish government for being "inflammatory and dangerous". Years later, the director managed to smuggle a copy of his film out of the country. It soon-after opened at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, garnering a Best Actress Award for Kristina Janda for her stunning performance. Ms. Janda is a fixture in Polish films since the late 70s to the late 90s. She can be seen in most politically oriented Polish films of the 80s.
An another interesting feature is seeing A. Holland in a major acting role. She went on to become one of the top female directors in all of Europe (and North America) in the 90s, with high profile films in French, German and English.
This film is a gem, and it is available world wide in video. In the US and in Brazil, the film is available at many mainstream stores I've visited in the foreign section. You'll recognize it by the label across its cover stating- BANNED FOR EIGHT YEARS. As commercial as this might first appear (a la "banned in Boston!), after you see the film, you will understand why it would be have banned at all cost by any totalitarian regime. The film is a shocker!
Watching and Waiting
norman-42-84375811 July 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Tonia, a singer in a sleazy night club is arrested by Poland's Stasi style security forces, the UBeks. Although it takes her many months to find the reason for this, it turns out to be a case of guilt by association. She was a social friend of a military officer thought to be a foreign agent.
This film deals with the power relationship between security forces and their captives. It deals with the methods of persuasion and torture used to obtain forced confessions for 'crimes' real or imagined. In this case the film is set in Poland under the control of Stalinist Russia but could also have been in any other country in the world, for instance in South America; Central America; Central African Republic; Germany; Japan; Cambodia; Abu Ghraib; Guantanamo Bay or Camp Iguana. For those unfamiliar with Camp Iguana, it is a special section of Guantanamo bay where the same harsh treatment is meted out to prepubescent enemy combatants. We know from such docu-dramas as Andrzej Wajda's Katyn and Elem Klimov's Come and See that neither one side nor the other is any better in this respect.
Tonia's main interrogator was so high ranking he wore a three piece chalk stripe suit instead of military uniform but his desk was in such a poor state he couldn't get the drawers to open properly. When he tried to find writing implements for Tonia to sign a fake confession, what he found inside would disgrace the school pencil case of any six year old. This film shows the tasks undertaken by the UBeks as so routine they would bore any factory machine minder. The only bout of real emotion by the interrogator is near the beginning of Tonia's captivity and its purpose is to establish the relationship between the two of them. But because of their brutal methods and unaccountability to anyone except the Party Chairman, they are accorded an elitist reputation. Their interrogation and torture continue unceasingly.
As the film develops, we are treated to an incident of what has become known as the Stockholm Syndrome. At one point, as the relentlessness of the interrogation continues, one of Tonia's captors lets her sleep instead of continuing the constant assault of her mind. This act of kindness results in a physical bond forming between them.
The only purpose of torture is torture for the sake of torture. The UBeks administer this quite implacably and if this is really how they get their rocks off, then they never show any emotion about it. This intolerable pressure is continued even after outside circumstances have eliminated the original reason for Tonia's arrest. An elitist organisation cannot admit to having got it wrong so they just carry on doing what they do best. Forced confessions have no real meaning and in this sense the security forces have little real practical purpose. As the material that came with the DVD expresses it, their true purpose is the rape of the human mind. This doesn't work, in Tonia's case and in the end we are left with the hope that she can reunite her family around her. This leaves her main captor with an intolerable decision.
Are the actions of the UBeks normal behaviour under any circumstances. Unfortunately, the Stanford Prison Experiment would suggest that they are, albeit in societies which are organised from the top down, as most world societies are. Those few which have been organised from the bottom up have never known such conditions.
Thomas Jefferson once said "Those who would trade freedom for security deserve neither" The purpose of a film like Interrogation is to say to those who purport to have our security and best interests at heart "We know who you are and we are watching."
This film deals with the power relationship between security forces and their captives. It deals with the methods of persuasion and torture used to obtain forced confessions for 'crimes' real or imagined. In this case the film is set in Poland under the control of Stalinist Russia but could also have been in any other country in the world, for instance in South America; Central America; Central African Republic; Germany; Japan; Cambodia; Abu Ghraib; Guantanamo Bay or Camp Iguana. For those unfamiliar with Camp Iguana, it is a special section of Guantanamo bay where the same harsh treatment is meted out to prepubescent enemy combatants. We know from such docu-dramas as Andrzej Wajda's Katyn and Elem Klimov's Come and See that neither one side nor the other is any better in this respect.
Tonia's main interrogator was so high ranking he wore a three piece chalk stripe suit instead of military uniform but his desk was in such a poor state he couldn't get the drawers to open properly. When he tried to find writing implements for Tonia to sign a fake confession, what he found inside would disgrace the school pencil case of any six year old. This film shows the tasks undertaken by the UBeks as so routine they would bore any factory machine minder. The only bout of real emotion by the interrogator is near the beginning of Tonia's captivity and its purpose is to establish the relationship between the two of them. But because of their brutal methods and unaccountability to anyone except the Party Chairman, they are accorded an elitist reputation. Their interrogation and torture continue unceasingly.
As the film develops, we are treated to an incident of what has become known as the Stockholm Syndrome. At one point, as the relentlessness of the interrogation continues, one of Tonia's captors lets her sleep instead of continuing the constant assault of her mind. This act of kindness results in a physical bond forming between them.
The only purpose of torture is torture for the sake of torture. The UBeks administer this quite implacably and if this is really how they get their rocks off, then they never show any emotion about it. This intolerable pressure is continued even after outside circumstances have eliminated the original reason for Tonia's arrest. An elitist organisation cannot admit to having got it wrong so they just carry on doing what they do best. Forced confessions have no real meaning and in this sense the security forces have little real practical purpose. As the material that came with the DVD expresses it, their true purpose is the rape of the human mind. This doesn't work, in Tonia's case and in the end we are left with the hope that she can reunite her family around her. This leaves her main captor with an intolerable decision.
Are the actions of the UBeks normal behaviour under any circumstances. Unfortunately, the Stanford Prison Experiment would suggest that they are, albeit in societies which are organised from the top down, as most world societies are. Those few which have been organised from the bottom up have never known such conditions.
Thomas Jefferson once said "Those who would trade freedom for security deserve neither" The purpose of a film like Interrogation is to say to those who purport to have our security and best interests at heart "We know who you are and we are watching."
Incomparable
freshas_vision11 February 2004
I first saw "Przesluchanie" ("Interrogation") in the late 'eighties on Channel 4. It is an incomparable, original work of brilliance which has since been mimicked (Kieslowski's "Decalogue" and "Schindler's List" among others) but never bettered. This is REAL filmmaking. See it, if and when you can.
Interrogation
c_imdb-23418 May 2006
Ryszard Bugajski's Interrogation ("Przesluchanie")gives a vivid portrayal of life in 1950's Poland under the oppressive Stalinist regime. The protagonist of the film, Tonia, is arrested by the secret police and imprisoned for "conspiring" with her Russian friend Colonel Kazik Olcha. Her efforts to disprove these fabricated claims as fallacy are futile as she is continually interrogated. Tonia's overly feminine nature secures her position as a victim of the regime, while the masculine brutality adopted by her interrogators draw parallels with Stalins oppressive dictatorship. This harrowing portrayal of a flawed and inhumane system is more than mere fiction, the director having to escape Poland with only one copy of the film text in his possession.
Imprisonment of Antonina Dziwisz
Maurizio7316 March 2013
Young cabaret dancer and singer married to an intellectual, are subtly deceived and is arrested by the secret police Polish imprisons her in a women's prison. Here suffered repeated beatings and interrogations in order to make them confess to the alleged anti- nationalist, remaining segregated together with the other held for several years, until the end of Stalinist period. Only those who have lived under the oppressive cloak of an autocratic regime can not conceive the horror and distaste for oppression and brutalization of conscience that comes from the climate of suspicion and coercion of a Stalinist system. The thirty-nine years old director Ryszard Bugajski from Warsaw tell us about it with daring and difficult work that produced a few years before the collapse of Soviet bloc, had to hide because of the ostracism and persecution by the authorities Polish. Forced to emigrate to Canada he made in VHS circular at first, until his distribution in 1989 and into the limelight in Cannes in 1990. This is a work rigorous and required where there is a reference, in the exemplary story of a young patriot, the tragedy and absurdity surreal lived by whole genarations of Polish citizens who passed the occupation and horrors of Nazism to the permutation of a cruel and inhuman tyranny in ruthless monster of a Stalinist regime, the generous sacrifice for their country during the war, the disintegration of their national identity through perverse gears of insinuating control by Polish authorities themselves. The onset of a poignant hymn of love for their country (the beautiful 'Piosenka o mojej Warszawie') in the verses and notes sung by the boys who return from the front is the sad prelude to a generation betrayed by being cruel and mocking the history.The look of the young Bugajski rests on the faces and bodies of the tortured protagonist with cold clarity of a cruel realism, the dissection of the dark evil of a nation reduced to the yoke of a dark presence and immanent rushes individuals hell Kafkaesque a mousetrap. The prison (jail) female hold the cold and damp a great drifting ship where men and mice are forced to necessary cohabitation in Desperate to escape an unlikely, wrecks animated bodies that crave the gasping salvation. In tight spaces a subtle promiscuity reveals the design of a perverse inhuman coercion, it stirs up the dark machinations that sets man against man, a cruel game and sadist who delves in the lowest depths of degradation of man. Rare concessions to symbolism (the seeds on the window sill of watered with spit from desperate cellmates) and to easy melodramatic rhetoric, in this microcosm retraces the tragic fate of a woman stripped of the visible signs of his dignity until complete isolation from his past (the fight for his country, the relationship with her husband and his world) and its future (the child who The first being torn from the womb and then the arms) and yet maintains the integrity of fair who does not abdicate the betrayal or the break-up of his own humanity. The stages of events momentous mark the time of the prison of Antonina Dziwisz Between the 34th anniversary of the October Revolution and the end of the great Soviet tyranny. Prize for the best actress at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival for his extraordinary protagonist Krystina Janda. Unappreciated gem of Polish cinema.
Bold and Brilliant
glassvision16 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
I first saw "Przesluchanie" ("Interrogation") in the late 'eighties on Channel 4. It is an incomparable, original work of brilliance which has since been mimicked (Kieslowski's "Decalogue" and "Schindler's List" among others) but never bettered. This is REAL filmmaking. See it, if and when you can. It's a riveting, visceral film that pulls you into its story from the moment it starts and it never lets you go.
Krystyna Janda's acting is the best screen performance I've ever seen on screen. She is TOTAL in her focus and commitment. When she's frightened - I felt frightened, when she was happy - I felt happy. Her command over that performance of Antonina Dziwisz is truly exemplary. This is brutal, hardcore, East-European realism at it's unnerving best. A full spectrum of emotions is on display from Krystyna Janda and she delivers to maximum effect. The switch between casual, carefree Tonia the cabaret singer to terrified prisoner is simply incredible to watch.
Przesluchanie is a bold, brilliant film that delves deep inside the human condition and explores themes of duty, loyalty, conformity, love, trust, friendship, betrayal, cruelty, desire, truth and justice. I can still hear Antonina's whimpering, frightened voice in my head - 25 years after watching it - the way she pleads with the guards and asks in confused desperation the reasons behind her detention. This is a film that will never stop resonating. Anyone who cares about cinema, acting or theatre needs to watch this searing, compelling work of genius filmmaking.
Krystyna Janda's acting is the best screen performance I've ever seen on screen. She is TOTAL in her focus and commitment. When she's frightened - I felt frightened, when she was happy - I felt happy. Her command over that performance of Antonina Dziwisz is truly exemplary. This is brutal, hardcore, East-European realism at it's unnerving best. A full spectrum of emotions is on display from Krystyna Janda and she delivers to maximum effect. The switch between casual, carefree Tonia the cabaret singer to terrified prisoner is simply incredible to watch.
Przesluchanie is a bold, brilliant film that delves deep inside the human condition and explores themes of duty, loyalty, conformity, love, trust, friendship, betrayal, cruelty, desire, truth and justice. I can still hear Antonina's whimpering, frightened voice in my head - 25 years after watching it - the way she pleads with the guards and asks in confused desperation the reasons behind her detention. This is a film that will never stop resonating. Anyone who cares about cinema, acting or theatre needs to watch this searing, compelling work of genius filmmaking.
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