Cut off by the 'Iron Curtain'

Abstract

Poland - like other Eastern and Central European countries - was for many years politically, socially and culturally cut off from the Western Europe. Did this have an impact on the representation of Polish cinema in English-language film criticism?

Judging by the number of books about Polish cinema as a whole or about Polish directors and their films it would seem that the answer must be negative. However, a closer look at other books about world cinema and especially French cinematography proves that in spite of limited contacts Polish films were widely discussed in English-language literature. Another question is whether this representation was an exact and true one. The answer is again a positive one in spite of the political, social and cultural isolation. A comparison to Polish film criticism shows that Polish films were not generally misunderstood or rejected. Furthermore, English-language authors sometimes found different interesting plots missing in film literature in Poland. Therefore, surprisingly, the political partition did not obstruct cultural exchange and the most important Polish films were still available and discussed in the English-speaking world.

However, there was still a gap in the knowledge about some aspects of Polish Cinema such as, for example, Polish cult comedies phenomenon. Therefore there is still a need for the popularisation of some important for the Polish nationality films outside of Poland and for deeper critical thought about Polish cinematography - which is an reflection of the society itself.