Interrogation is the story of Tonia played by Krystyna Janda and extrovert, sexually charged singer who was more than a little promiscuous in her youth, one night she has a blazing row with her husband over his overt flirtations with another woman. Tonia is angered by the situation and leaves only to be invited out for a night of fun with two other young men. She is plied with alcohol until she can barely form a sentence, and then for unknown reasons the young men deliver her to a detention facility where in she is locked up. Upon awakening the next day Tonia finds herself in a jail cell with a large group of women, confused and frightened she is then interrogated by two sinister men. The details of why she’s been arrested are not revealed but the questions are indicating an interest in a man Tonia once slept with who is now a member of the resistance. With nothing to confess to and genuinely no more knowledge of the activities of the resistance Tonia is subjected to a de-humanising interrogation which progressively becomes more violent and manipulative as the film continues. The film is a political thriller, but the action lends accidentally to the genre of horror, Tonia’s unjustified incarceration is the stuff of nightmares. She hasn’t even been charged with a crime, but is continually advised by her cell mates to confess to the crimes she hasn’t committed and eventually she will be let out. Her interrogators are brutal and imaginative and their methods become increasingly horrific, between these scenes the tension begins to build in wonder of what hideous technique they’ll invent next. Interrogation is much more than just the interrogation scenes; it is a slice of paradoxical political history. Set in the 1950’s, it catalogues years leading up to the death of Stalin, which in many respects represents a point where the situation improved for the states within the union - the reversal being that Bugajski and crew were rushing to complete the film before the situation got worse with the announcement of martial law in Poland. The 20th Centaury was a bloody time for Europe, but where as most of the continent was allowed to return to a more peaceful way of life after the defeat of the Nazi’s, Poland continued to be downtrodden. In Estonia for example the people were over joyed by the arrival of Hitler’s forces as it meant the retreat of Stalin’s. It’s a case of the lesser of two evils and there is a sense of reflectivity for the Polish victims. Auschwitz is referenced several times in comparison with the atrocities which the authorities are committing, not the most pleasant but a truthful and astute observation. Janda’s performance is startling, portraying Tonia at the beginning the film with a colourful outlook and buckets of energy which is slowly depleted over the course of the many years of the films narrative until she is left as a laconic, worn out, shell of a woman. When the film was eventually internationally released 1990, Janda earned the best actress award at Cannes (the film itself was also nominated for the Golden Palm.) Janda is mesmerising and is the core of the film as she is subjected to more brutal and horrendous treatment our sympathy for her increases with every second of her ordeal. Other performances from the supporting cast are a little theatrical, but they’re never ham-fisted; Janda however is never anything less than genuine. There are a substantial number of gut-wrenching moments throughout the film, and yet through variation their impact never diminishes, be it a realistic dream sequence of Tonia escaping only to be interrupted by her awakening to realise she is still imprisoned, or a squirm inducing suicide attempt by biting through the veins on a wrist. Every time the situation appears that it can’t get any worse - it does. It is difficult to watch at times, one emotionally wrought scene involves a young mother having her baby confiscated and taken to a state orphanage, the mother’s breakdown is one of the most painful scenes in the film. When Tonia finally gets to see her husband, he is disgusted in her, and has been presented with her confessions of her multiple sexual relations. The torture used on Tonia is both humiliating and humbling, often stripped naked, the film only just retreats from explicit sexual violence. Thankfully so in this case as the film is only slightly less than totally bleak.
Interrogation is available in the UK on DVD, distributed by Second Run DVD. Second Run is a relatively new distributor who’ve been building up an excellent catalogue of obscure films, they can be found at http://www.secondrundvd.com on their website a complete transcript of a meeting where the Polish Cultural Committee discussed whether or not to allow the film to be released, it is a unique insight into the processes of censorship. Jerzy Warman’s introduction to the transcript observes that the censors refer to Interrogation as a “propagandistic” film. Warman states that the meeting “provides one more proof that a Communist regime, for whom ‘propaganda’ was once the proudest weapon in its ideological arsenal, has in the end come to fear it too.” This statement perfectly presents the case for fighting fire with fire so to speak, an out right attack on the system can be as or more effective as any insidious cinematic displays of political irreverence. M. Dawson |
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In 1982 Ryszard Bugajski co-wrote and directed Interrogation. At the time of the production he may well have foreseen its controversy, and the soviet authorities swift banning of the film. Unlike many other politically minded film makers on the east side of the iron curtain, Bugajski never attempted any kind of subtle dig at the system, or to mask the films message through the veil of metaphor; his approach was rather the opposite, as an artist Bugajski clearly believed that offence was the best defense, and as such Interrogation is a unflinching and out right attack on the authorities.
It’s to Bugajski’s credit that the film ever managed to be produced, the script was approved for production by chance and it is remarkably lucky that no-one in authority flagged up its obvious anti-establishment themes. But unsurprisingly the film was banned upon completion. Bugajski fled persecution and exiled himself to Canada. For the eight-years leading up to the collapse of the soviet union Interrogation was only available in Poland on an unofficial VHS which was distributed illegally underground. The film was highly socially relevant at the time of its production, but its message is still relevant today as western governments continually increase detention periods for terrorism suspects. Men and woman can now be held for extended periods of time without trial or charges, of course the situation is nowhere near as bad as it was in Stalinist Poland, but Interrogation serves as timely reminder of what could happen if our civil liberties are continually eroded in the name of protection and justice. Interrogation is a bleak but important film, it never attempts to sentimentalise its content, and even as Tonia finds sympathy, affection and love from one of her interrogators - the outcome doesn’t flinch from the previously unfaultable pessimistic outlook. The films message then becomes that even the best of people with kindness in their hearts can’t stand in the way of another persons prejudice if the system is behind their prejudice.
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