Czesc, Tereska

This film shows "Poland B" or the Poland that escapes media's attention, usually focused on the successes of the country's transtional period (or its failures, as in the results of the recent elections). Set in Warsaw, the film follows a story of a young girl living in the kind of "mega-block" that makes vasts portions of Warsaw look like Moscow or Tirana. Hardly anything that is not bleak. Seeing it at the Chicago Film Festival, I noticed the gradual cessation of the audience's chuckles, so common among Americans viewing foreign films portraying experiences not immediately recognizable to them. By the film's end, the room was quiet, and I personally felt almost physically assaulted, the way many people, I suppose, reacted to Lars von Trier's last picture. Unlike "Dancer in the Dark", however, "Czesc Tereska" offers nothing but truth, a painful and utterly bleak truth, which connects us with the kinds of human experience we usually shy away from. A must see, but don't say I didn't warn you.