(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)
A German lady breaks up with her
oafish husband in the midst of dustbowl America and lands in with a variety of
characters living in and around the Bagdad Cafe, a roadside pit stop for
truckers and travellers. And therein we witness the slow build of camaraderie
and a shared spirit, particularly between the two wonderful leads, Marianne Sägebrecht and C.C.H. Pounder.
Bagdad Cafe is of its time, when films could be quirky for quirk’s sake and I
actually felt a stab of nostalgia watching it. A film like it, produced today,
would probably get shredded. It survives the test of time though, as no matter
how put on the eccentricities of character, at its core is straight as a die
friendship and shared human experience. It is heart-warming, funny and
unapologetic and Jack Palance turns in a magnificent performance also.