Strike

Volker Schlöndorff, veteran German director of the Oscar-winning The Tin Drum (1979), here focuses on the emergence of the Solidarity labor movement in Poland during the early 1980s, which represented the beginning of the challenge to Communist rule in Eastern Europe that eventually brought down the Soviet empire. But Strike personalizes the story by concentrating on one flawed but heroic figure—a single mother (Katharina Thalbach) who devoted her life to hard work in the Gdansk shipyard but became an activist when the government-sponsored union bosses turned a blind eye to dangerous working conditions. Although it employs some archival footage, Strike does not strive for documentary-like accuracy, but changes the names of characters and compresses and alters historical events for dramatic effect. Visually, the film achieves an atmosphere of gritty realism, while also showcasing a terrific performance by Thalbach as the spunky welder who endures brutal treatment for a righteous cause. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)