THE PORTRAYAL OF WORKERS IN THE 1970s FILMS OF WOJCIECH WISZNIEWSKI
THE PORTRAYAL OF WORKERS IN THE 1970s FILMS OF WOJCIECH WISZNIEWSKI

Summary/Abstract: This article examines representation of workers in the 1970s films of the renowned Polish documentary filmmaker, Wojciech Wiszniewski (1946–1981), whose style is described as creative documentary. Wiszniewski is best known for questioning traditional socialist work ethics, as epitomised by the figure of a shock worker and his or her representation according to socialist realist aesthetics. In this way, his films make the viewers reflect on the difference between the 1950s and the 1970s, when they were made. I will consider Wiszniewski’s representations of shock workers and ordinary people in films such as Opowieść o człowieku, który wykonal 552% normy (“A Story of a Man Who Filled 552% of the Quota”, 1973), Wanda Gościmińska, włókniarka (“Wanda Gościmińska, A Weaver”, 1975) and Stolarz (“The Carpenter”, 1976) against the background of the Polish history and ideology of state socialism.

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