Permanent Objections

(Grzegorz Królikiewicz/1975/Poland)

Although the subtitles translate the title as Eternal Grievances this film is widely referred to as Permanent Objections but I have also seen it called Perpetual Claims or Constant Complaints. An ambiguous title then for what is a surreal, arthouse experiment using the lives of a pair of ordinary men in communist Poland as a metaphor for the impossibility of state led moral responsibility. How can Franek and Rysio be trusted to properly inspect meat factories and enforce compliance when they are beholden to their own base instincts, the one a lustful, misogynistic flirt, the other a deceitful gambler and both drink sodden carousers? They are human, subject to temptation and the film is a jab at the state that would try and force some sort of moral regime on people by people. 

For me it is saying we are responsible for ourselves and nanny state intervention encourages iniquity or maybe the metaphor is for the inherent corruption of the state as it attempts to enforce a moral code – impossible, as the enforcers are all too human and open to debasement. Either way it is a mesmerizing 90 minutes of skewed, jarring cinema utilizing a myriad of techniques to break conventions and question the viewer. Admittedly some of these come off as film student grade cinema but in the main it’s an engaging and though provoking flick.

(3/5)