In his uniquely effective documentary, Tomasz Wolski combines puppets, archival footage, and phone recordings to depict a national crisis team's catastrophic campaign to quell a Polish uprising in 1970.
Opening titles explain that 25 years of communist rule has resulted in food shortages and inflation. With staples, like meat, in short supply during the holiday season, prices shot up by as much as 36%. Six political and military leaders come together to address the rising dissatisfaction. They include Deputy Interior Minister Tadeusz Pietrzak, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Ryszard Matejewski, Deputy Prime Minister Stanisław Kociołek, General Staff of the Polish Army Czesław Kiszczak, Polish United Workers' Party Deputy Head Zdzislaw Zandarowski, and Minister of Internal Affairs Kazimierz Świtała.
As the situation worsens, shipyard workers in Gdansk strike for higher wages. Wolszi alternates between black-and-white footage of the strikers with full-color recreations of the crisis team (played by realistic felted puppets) at work in shadowy rooms. The strikers carry picket signs and eat meals brought by relatives, while the team members smoke and strategize.
Initially, the team attempts to disperse strikers, fearing that others will follow suit, and that's what happens when telegraph workers in Gydnia hit the picket line. After a few days, things turn ugly as militia members move in with armored tanks. Citizens respond with Molotov cocktails as smoke fills the air from the burned-out buildings, buses, and cars. "We've never seen such an aggressive and hostile crowd," one team member laments. They respond by imposing a 6 pm to 5 am curfew.
After eight days, the strike came to an end. The pacification process involved 35,000 soldiers and militia members, 3,548 vehicles (including aircraft and navy vessels), and 276,000 projectiles (including bullets and grenades). Casualties included 1,164 injuries and 41 deaths, primarily of workers in their teens and twenties, while eight officers and soldiers lost their lives.
That's only a snapshot of the devastation. Equally concerning was the time that elapsed before team members faced legal consequences for this assault against the populace--a gap so large that several perpetrators died of old age before justice found them. Nonetheless, most members of the crisis team would suffer reprisals of various kinds for their involvement.
Though Wolski could have extended the 70-minute run time through interviews with strikers, journalists, and historians, it might have diluted the power of his approach, which makes a historical event feel immediate and relevant. The puppets contribute to that effect. What might have seemed cartoonish or irreverent if executed poorly proves effective through realistic modeling, detailed and appropriately scaled sets, skillful camera work, and eerie sound design. 1970 is a punchy, potent film.
Where does this title belong on library shelves?
1970 belongs on documentary shelves in academic and public libraries with films about Eastern European and Polish history.
What kind of film series could use this title?
Tomasz Wolski's fifth feature, on which he served as cinematographer and editor, would fit with film series on Eastern European and Polish history, especially films focusing on protest, policing, and the communist party.
What type of instructors will use this title?
College and graduate-level instructors of Eastern European history and film studies could make productive use of 1970 as much for the dramatic events Wolski depicts as the hybrid form he used to tell this story.