Boguslaw Linda runs to catch a train. In one scenario, he catches it. In another, he misses it. In a third, he misses it also. His life is vastly different in each of these scenarios.
Krzysztof Kieslowski's film about the trivialities that can change our lives beyond measure sat on the shelves for seven years before the censors released it. It offers a view of the Communist party that is at once cynical and destructive. Some members in good standing sympathize with hot-headed youths who don't care for the Party line. Even more, its view of history, personal and societal, as controlled by trivialities, rather than the grand sweep of historical inevitability that was a cornerstone of orthodox Marxism must have grated. Neither was this the first time this idea had appeared; one of Ray Bradbury's early and notable science fiction stories, "The Sound of Thunder" espoused this idea.
Linda's performance in each of these scenarios is spot on, with a commonality of personality running through them. I'm uncertain whether the dour tone of the movie, that the most important things are so small, is deliberate. Perhaps it was Kieslowski's sop to the regime. Or perhaps it was just pessimism.
Krzysztof Kieslowski's film about the trivialities that can change our lives beyond measure sat on the shelves for seven years before the censors released it. It offers a view of the Communist party that is at once cynical and destructive. Some members in good standing sympathize with hot-headed youths who don't care for the Party line. Even more, its view of history, personal and societal, as controlled by trivialities, rather than the grand sweep of historical inevitability that was a cornerstone of orthodox Marxism must have grated. Neither was this the first time this idea had appeared; one of Ray Bradbury's early and notable science fiction stories, "The Sound of Thunder" espoused this idea.
Linda's performance in each of these scenarios is spot on, with a commonality of personality running through them. I'm uncertain whether the dour tone of the movie, that the most important things are so small, is deliberate. Perhaps it was Kieslowski's sop to the regime. Or perhaps it was just pessimism.