The War of the Worlds: Next Century

Saw The War of the Worlds: Next Century, a Polish dystopian film where Martians have landed and have somehow set up an oppressive authoritarian regime. They broadcast announcements urging people to register as a "Friend of the Martians" for which they receive a complimentary ear tag. The protagonist is the host of a morning talk-show-style news program which disseminates announcements and propaganda. At first he is flattered and bribed and given life-passes and free ear tags and so on, but after a small act of rebellion, his wife is taken from him. This precipitates a crisis of conscience and he starts to fight back against the powers that be.

The film is very Kafka-esque. The level of sincerity of any character at any moment is often very hard to gauge. For example, the protagonist registers as a Friend of the Martians very obviously against his will. The registration official confides that he hates the Martians. Our hero is on the verge of confiding back but first asks "Are you playing a provocateur?" and the official responds that yes, he was just testing him. All of the interactions in the film are like that. A kindly prostitute may be a government agent. A crazy revolutionary is being manipulated by the powers that be.

The film is built on a desire to stir the audience to some form of resistance and is therefore quite bleak. Television is positioned as the supreme controller of the masses and there is no winning against this foe. The film slightly falls victim of its own pessimism, I feel, but then the film would feel a bit cheap if the rebels succeeded and all was well in the end. Bleak and slightly wearying, this is a joyless film about joyless stuff. It's the least humorous dystopia I've seen in a while. Interesting but heavy.

Edit: Had a bit of time to think about the film and something I forgot to mention was that us humans, not the Martians, are the true villains of the film. The Martians are barely even seen and it is implied that we humans have skillfully made slaves of ourselves. I wonder (in my profoundly ignorant little way) if this may have a connection with Poland during WW2? When a victim blames themselves for their suffering, it flatters their own sense of agency and denies the embarrassing label of 'victim.' Could this film be a manifestation of shame at Poland's failure to resist the Nazis? I have no idea, but it's an interesting lens to view the film through anyway.