I saw this with the director present at the '98 Seattle International Film Festival, along with maybe 50 other people; as I write this (2005), I remember it with complete clarity. All of us present at that showing were aghast and dying of laughter. This "documentary" (it COULDN'T be real, could it? Lozinski swore it was) depicts life at a camp in communist Poland where couples learn how to live ideal communist family lives. Each of the various couples, some of whom have their children in tow, react in very different and very human ways to the pathetic attempts by the camp directors--very low level communist functionaries- -to instruct and instill "ideal values." I don't know what was funnier: the insane conversations between the directors as they concocted their ideals on the fly, based on imperfectly understood or recalled bits of wisdom from political leaders, or the attempts of the camp goers (with one very notable exception) to try and get with the program. Most of the film's hilarious conflict centers on a contest between the families to determine the best, most ideal communist couple; the awarding of the grand prize at the end of the film has to be the most pathetically funny scene ever shot in a documentary. We were all gasping. The 16mm print Lozinski showed us had English subtitles, but since then, I've only seen this film available in the U.S. at Polish cultural libraries, in PAL, probably without. If you ever see it advertised at a festival, GO SEE THIS FILM! Communism in Poland may be extinct, but the tragicomedy of the powerful attempting to dictate to the rest "how to live" (the English title of this film) is timeless and brutally funny.
