O-bi, o-ba, The End of Civilisation

Saw O-bi, o-ba, The End of Civilisation, a dismal Polish sci-fi. The idea is that nuclear holocaust has driven everyone into a giant fallout shelter where they'll hunker until a magnificent vessel called "The Ark" comes to save them all. It's unclear if this vessel will be a spaceship, or if it will transport them to somewhere on earth that's still safe, or indeed, if this Ark even exists. In the meantime, we follow a sort-of-policeman as he visits the more militaristic and crazy part of the miserable bunker-dwelling society. There's suicidal engineers and rich weirdos, a librarian who has disposed of all books except for those detailing who was at fault for the nuclear war.

The society and inner workings of the shelter are interesting, but there's a palpable sense of doom in the air. What with the name of the ship, The Ark, and the impending slow destruction by radiation, there are obvious religious overtones to the whole thing. The ending in particular seems very pointed about how we as a society hamstring our own salvation (salvation here meaning survival or ascension into heaven or utopia or whatever) The ending is also kind of a departure from the depressing realism of nuclear winter and is sort of an a-tonal flight of fancy.

So the film is fairly miserable. It's an existentialist allegory for our current lives. The protagonist tries to find some way to survive in this doomed world, or perhaps if not to survive than to do something meaningful. The film is interesting to look at (although, of course, also depressing. Cracked tile and fluorescent lights are 90% of the decor) and the protagonist's actions are interesting to follow, but it's kind of grim going.