Nie lubie poniedzialku is a great satire on the Polish reality during the period of harsh Communism. Tadeusz Chmielewski, similarly to another famous comedy director Stanisław Bareja, wanted to present the society and all of its problems in a really exaggerated way.
What may be surprising to some of the viewers is the fact, that even though the movie presents a caricature of the country's situation, there are still some scenes and incidents that could have as well taken place in the 70's.
The movie takes on a truly irreverent tone, as it shows all of the occurring characters as people that may seem totally out of context. Yet, their peculiar behavior beautifully intertwines with the main storyline.
All the events in this film occur on one unlucky Monday. As the title says: 'I hate Mondays'. Because who doesn't? Everything bad always happens at the beginning of the week and it is better to stay at home and wait for the next day, just to avoid any misfortunes.
Here we find an Italian, who through a complex (and really funny) series of events is mistakenly taken for a totally different person. The most amazing fact is that nobody even noticed the he can only speak Italian. However, due to magnificent Polish hospitality he finds himself right in the middle of a big ceremony. And if this wasn't enough, he is also dragged into an affair with a pretty Polish lady.
In order to be able to fully understand all the dialogues, comical situations, and many, sometimes very odd, accidents one has to know even a bit about the history of Poland in the post-war era. It is almost impossible to translate the conversations to English language (or any other) without losing their contextual meaning.
However, if you still want to experience a bit of Polish reality in those very hard times, but experience it with dozens of laughs, be sure to watch Nie lubie poniedzialku. It's definitely one of the best comedies that the country has to offer.
