Escape From The ‘Liberty’ Cinema (1990)
“Censorship is necessary. Censorship is an art.” The opening line of the 1990 Polish film Escape From The ‘Liberty’ Cinema by Wojciech Marczewski sets the scene wonderfully. The lead character continues his opening speech, delivered to a room of employees and trainees at the censorship office. “The good censor should be regarded as an artist (…) I don’t know if you realise that the moment censorship is abolished as an institution, the task of censoring will devolve to you.”. Within the opening few lines lies the centre piece of the entire film, the idea of losing control. The backdrop for this theme is 1989 Poland, rapidly approaching the end of Soviet rule, and the lead character, Rabkiewicz, is the devoted lead censor for his city.
Without spoilers, the premise of the film is that a new film (called Daybreak/Jutrzenka), one which made it past the head censors in Warsaw, is being screened when the actors on screen start interacting with the audience in the screenings at the ‘Liberty’ cinema. Rabkiewicz goes to see the film for himself and is ordered by one of the on screen actors to put his cigarette out, leading to a minor nervous breakdown. The censors office tries to figure out how to suppress the film by purchasing all available tickets as people start getting word of this and clamouring for access to the screenings. At the same time, random people in random locations and situations start to break out in operatic performance with no motive or trigger. When Rabkiewicz returns to the screening room to get his coat back, the lead actress of Daybreak recognises him and starts a conversation, revealing that Rabkiewicz had been a poet and theatre critic before becoming a censor 15 years ago.
If I were to go any further with the explanation itself I could end up ruining some part of the viewing experience for anyone else who wanted to watch it so the rest of this review will keep direct plot references to a bare minimum. Needless to say, the surrealism only grows from there (at one point the lead actor from The Purple Rose of Cairo ends up trapped in Daybreak after a mistake from the projectionist leads to the two films being played simultaneously) but the theme of control, escaping that control and the controllers desperately trying to retain that control remains throughout.
When I want to write something about a film I take minor notes on certain elements I want to talk about or certain plot points or characters I had a specific opinion on, but after 20 minutes or so of Escape From The ‘Liberty’ Cinema I completely stopped writing. I simply couldn’t bring myself to look away from the screen. Beyond one poorly done American accent (which only remains in the film for about 30 seconds) and a few instances of poor dubbing/lip syncing, I honestly can’t think of any flaws with this film. The drab, grey visuals are often unappealing but deliberately contrast the light and cheery decor of the sets in Daybreak, rare moments of sunlight are emphasised brilliantly before being replaced by night or grey skies again. The film is bleak because the situation is bleak. The atmosphere throughout the whole thing is remarkable.
The film has amusing moments throughout; a pair of nuns laugh in the audience when an actor swears at another actor on screen, a woman tells the lead actor off for cussing because there are kids around and he tells her to drown them,… each time the humour comes from the breaking of norms and of control, complete subversion of expectations not just for the audience at home but the on screen audience of Daybreak. Each joke is punctuated by the absurdity of its own existence, actors on screen ordering Soviet officials to put out cigarettes and insulting them as they do it for example, but the absurdity always carries a feeling of trepidation. The unease at the whole situation, notably the consequences that could be delivered for all involved is something that undercuts all the humour with a slight tension. This is by no means a comedy, even if it’s not always as dark as the colour palette could suggest.
Escape From The ‘Liberty’ Cinema is not an easy film to explain, especially when I’m trying to avoid spoilers, but it is an absolute masterpiece. The way it explores freedom; with censors practically spitting the word out like a rotten grape, with Rabkiewicz declaring that there are no signs of rebellion because matter itself is rebelling, even down to the description of censorship as an art which opens the film, is fascinating — clearly influenced by the communist rule of the era. There’s so much more that can be said about this film, but I’m honestly scared to give too much of it away. All I can say is that you have to watch it. It’s on Netflix and DVD, it’s an absolute masterpiece. This may just be a case of recency bias, but I’m giving Escape From The ‘Liberty’ Cinema a 10/10. Incredible.
