A stowaway sneaks aboard a ship departing on a cruise down the Vistula River. The captain takes him for a Communist Party cultural coordinator and the intruder gladly adapts to his new role, immediately setting to work at manipulating the passengers and crew into silly and vaguely humiliating games. Before long, Tym has got everyone under his thumb and created his own comedic dictatorship.
Acting
Stanisław Tym's deadpan tyranny is genuinely unsettling.
Direction
Piwowski wrangles chaos into coherent anarchy.
Writing
Improvised dialogue sharper than most scripted satire.

Director
Marek Piwowski
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot during the Polish thaw when satirizing Party incompetence was briefly possible before 1968 crackdowns.
Most dialogue was improvised; Piwowski only gave actors scenarios and let cameras roll on actual river cruise passengers.
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