Ohne Betäubung (1978)

Ohne Betäubung: Directed by Andrzej Wajda. With Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Ewa Dalkowska, Andrzej Seweryn, Krystyna Janda. A famous Polish journalist presents a problem for the powers-that-be when he displays his full political skill and knowledge on a television show featuring questions and answers on a world conference by a panel of journalists. His enemies take away his privileges when he is away. The shock of being “unwanted” parallels a deeper disappointment in his private life: his wife has an affair with a jealous young rival, and after 15 years of marriage and two daughters wants a divorce. She offers no explanations as he tries to untie these problems himself. All the moves he makes are the wrong ones. He takes on drinking heavily with students eager to attend his seminar after discovering the class has been canceled. The journalist, once suave and commanding is reduced to silence.

“First, I admit that Iu0026#39;ve admired almost everything that Andrzej Wajda has done, since I had the pleasure of seeing a National Gallery of Art retrospective of his films in Washington (that he attended). This movie was not in that series, but it should have been.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn one level it is a simple story of a manu0026#39;s life falling apart–both his professional life and his personal life.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJerzy Michalowski is an urbane and confident foreign affairs reporter who has been all over the world and is not afraid to u0026quot;modestlyu0026quot; describe his many travels and insights about world (and implicitly Polish) affairs on national TV.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHe seems to have it all, yet upon his return, the u0026quot;authoritiesu0026quot; (including of course his pliant immediate superiors), begin to try to cut him down to size. His privileges begin to evaporate. He no longer receives foreign magazines (u0026quot;Where is my Newsweek?u0026quot;), his next trip is no longer necessary, his course at the university is mysteriously cancelled, his defender at the office loses his position. The vice starts to tighten.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMeanwhile his wife has also at the same time decided to leave him for a younger colleague who is immensely dismissive (but jealous) of Jerzy. This part of the plot suffers a bit since the colleague is such a priggish jerk, and it is hard to see what the wife sees in him. But perhaps this is Wajdau0026#39;s way of putting us, the viewer, in Jerzyu0026#39;s shoes–he canu0026#39;t believe this could happen either. Moreover Jerzy is fundamentally a sympathetic character–he dotes on his daughter, his dog, his students, and is good to his friends.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut the double whammy he is hit with sends him reeling and he flails in all directions trying to u0026quot;fixu0026quot; things. Along the way he lets his students party in his apartment, and he allows a doting but silent woman (the luminous Krstyna Janda–star of u0026quot;Man of Ironu0026quot; and u0026quot;Man of Marbleu0026quot;) to stay with him (platonically) in his apartment. And even though his wife is having some second thoughts, she goes through with the divorce action. This sets up the divorce proceeding in court. The courtroom scenes are classic communist jurisprudence–a patina of fairness over a lot of half truths and quarter truths.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn the end his world has completely fallen apart.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is a 1979 film and Wajda, of course, had to be somewhat careful.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHe uses a u0026quot;soap operau0026quot; story to camouflage a trenchant critique of the then-existing Polish u0026quot;systemu0026quot;–one that hammers down the rare nail that sticks out and that makes it possible for courtroom u0026quot;witnessesu0026quot; to transparently lie on the witness stand without challenge by bored and mechanical judges.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe acting is excellent and very natural–(except for the jealous colleague), and the overall effect is haunting.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut see anything with Wajdau0026#39;s name on it.”