Petla - Wojciech Has

24 della vita di un uomo, vittima dell'alcolismo e prigioniero dei suoi fantasmi.
forse una cura contro la sua dipendenza può dargli una nuova vita, la sua fidanzata gli sta dietro, ma i suoi fantasmi lo perseguitano e lo fanno ricadere.
bellissima la sequenza nel bar, ottimi attori.
a suo tempo non ebbe il visto della censura per l'estero, la dittatura del proletariato non dava la felicità a tutti e forse questo non si doveva sapere.
"La leggenda del santo bevitore" è un film solare, al confronto, "Petla" è un film nerissimo.
una grande opera prima, da non perdere - Ismaele

Eight o’ clock in the morning. On the main road some workers are setting the street watch, while Kuba is watching them from his window, waiting anxiously for someone to arrive. Finally the door bell rings: it’s Krystyna his girlfriend.

The man is very upset, they have a brief discussion about what is going to change in their lives; after they’ll attend the appointment she got later in the afternoon. She is an hurry, but she’ll be back at the meeting hour.

After a while, Kuba left alone, is craving for something, and his addiction is finally revealed: the man is an alcoholic.

Wandering in the streets, waiting for the late afternoon visit with a doctor that could help him, Kuba is determined to stop drinking. But while the time passes by, all the people he meets instead to help him, with their sarcastic comments, brings him even more down the spiral of the desire of one last little drink more.

He’ll get drunk. He’ll be beaten and robbed. And when back, too late for the appointment with the doctor, he’ll find Kristina once again waiting for him.

The following morning at eight o’clock some workers are setting the street watch, while Kuba waits anxiously for someone to arrive again, but this time the loop of his life in which he constantly keeps repeating the same mistakes every day, will be stopped only by a definite and terrible decision: to commit suicide hanging himself.

The debut long feature of Polish director  Wojciech Jerzy Has,Petla, is an astounding piece of filmmaking, revealing the enormous talent of its director. With a firm and coherent approach, Has brings us in this world of misfits, derided by common people, and avoided even by their friends and relatives…

da qui

…Construit sur l’espace d’une journée, le film de Has distord d’emblée par sa mise en scène les présupposés temporels au fur et à mesure que resurgit l’insupportable addiction. Donnant d’abord le sentiment d’un suspens qui se déroule quasi en temps réel (le héros va-t-il tenir jusqu’à l’heure de son rendez-vous à l’hôpital ?), l’action devient plus fragmentée ou diluée montrant l’incapacité de Kuba à assumer l’environnement qui l’entoure. Il fuit le temps, les souvenirs qui ressurgissent au dehors et les responsabilités intimés qu’il ne veut pas tenir. Mais le dispositif est d’autant plus infernal que ni l’alcoolisme ni « la réalité quotidienne » ne semblent au fond pouvoir représenter un cadre vivable et potentiellement stimulant. « Le pire des rêves c’est la vie. Elle passe aussi »est-il dit à un moment donné. C’est tout à fait ce qui est à l’œuvre : incapable d’évoluer, Kuba s'enchaîne une existence en forme de rêve dans le rêve où l’espoir lui ferait vivre un jour sans fin. Son cynisme, sa porte de sortie salutaire et sa replongée se succèdent dans un monde en ruine qui se fige d’un peu partout. Jusqu’à en arriver à ce que le titre suggère?...

da qui

Dark and truthful about alcohol addiction. Dark streets of Krakow, dark moments. 24 hours in the life of a man ready to quit drinking...but will he make it? Some ready to help him, some ready to drag him down. Even the walls seem to play a part in the suspense. The same oppressiveness as in Bergman's Silence with the same intelligence in manipulating time sequences: a factual, step-by-step narrative becomes slowly warped, elliptic... Fine black-and-white photography, sharp dialogs. Sterling proof of Wojciech Has's talent and yet another example of how good Polish cinema was. 
The (long and central) drinking scene with the ex-saxophonist wasted by vodka is a gem. Gustaw Holoubek is extraordinary throughout and the short form for the name of his character "Kuba" will probably remain ringing in your ears…

da qui