Escape from the Liberty Cinema

Marczewski s anti-totalitarian satire is a darkly comic examination of censorship. Adapting the premise of Woody Allen s The Purple Rose of Cairo to late 1980s Poland, the film centres on a provincial film censor who is horrified to discover that the actors in a trite romantic weepie are refusing to perform their roles. With shades also of Keaton s Sherlock, Jr. and Bulgakov s The Master and Margarita, the film deftly combines social observation and surreal humour. Directed by one of Poland s leading intellectual - and much censored - filmmakers, this multi-awardwinning feature is a key film of the seismic political changes of 1989, and an enthusiastic manifesto for the freedom of the artist - and ultimately, of all humanity.