Mis (1981)

Director:

Stanislaw Bareja

Writers:

Stanislaw Bareja (writer)
Stanislaw Tym (writer)

Release Date:

4 May 1981 (Poland)

Genre:

Comedy | Sport

Plot:

The main character is the manager of a sport club, nicknamed "Teddy Bear" by his friends and acquaintances...

Plot Keywords:

Mistaken Identity | Ex Husband Ex Wife Relationship | Male Female Relationship | Satire | Film Within A Film

Cast

Stanislaw Tym	...	Ryszard Ochódzki / Stanislaw Paluch
Barbara Burska	...	Irena Ochódzka
Christine Paul-Podlasky	...	Aleksandra Kozel (as Christine Paul)
Krzysztof Kowalewski	...	Jan Hochwander
Bronislaw Pawlik	...	Stuwala
Ewa Bem	...	Singer
Zofia Czerwinska	...	Irena Siwna
Cezary Julski	...	Bald-headed Woman Husband
Marian Lacz	...	Józef Piec
Stanislaw Mikulski	...	Capt. Lech Rys aka 'Uncle Dobra Rada'
Wlodzimierz Nowak	...	Poet
Wojciech Pokora	...	Wlodarczyk
Eugeniusz Priwieziencew	...	Militiaman
Eugeniusz Robaczewski	...	Fiszbin
Hanna Skarzanka	...	Stusik

Also Known As:

Miś (Poland)
Teddy Bear

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish

Color:

Color

Company:

Zespol Filmowy "Perspektywa"

Goofs:

Continuity: On the set of "Ostatnia paroweczka hrabiego Barry Kenta" the cat being dressed up as a hare is gray, but the cat climbing a tree while filming the scene is white with black and red spots.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Bareizm (1997)

Polish Brazil

Like most Polish movies of the Communist era, "Teddy Bear" has several layers of meaning. On the surface it's a comedy of absurdities. But the absurdities make perfect sense in the political context of Poland of the 1970th. The movie shows Communism is its final stages of decay. The system becomes a game with complex and absurd rules. Only people who master these rules can be successful. The film's hero is one of them.

The key to understanding the movie is the dialog between the hero and a film producer about a straw bear--a giant prop for the movie they are making. The producer uses common sense to try to minimize the movie's production costs. The hero explains to him how rational arguments don't apply in the system they are living in. The simpleton film producer is initiated in the ways of the system.

There is a progression from George Orwell's stern an tragic "1984", through Terry Gilliam's tragicomic "Brazil", to the comically absurd "Teddy Bear"--a progression which reflects the various stages and versions of Communism. The Polish version is the most benign and tongue-in-cheek and the film describes it perfectly.