The Scar

Krzysztof Kieślowski's first feature, from 1976, describes the consequences of an industrial decision in Poland. The state decides to build a large chemical works in a small town and gives the job to Stefan Bednarz, an honest party man who believes the project will bring work to the region. But the townspeople do not want their houses demolished, the forest felled or the pollution; Bednarz finds himself caught between the administration and the public. Orders from above change, the figures do not add up and nobody takes responsibility. The film shows how bureaucracy works with documentary attention and does not vindicate its protagonist either; good intentions resolve nothing here. The telling is plain and the camera observant. It is regarded as the beginning of the cinema of moral questions Kieślowski turned to later. Who it's for: viewers who like Eastern European cinema and social drama. Who it's not for: anyone expecting a brisk account; the film advances through meetings.