"Czterej pancerni i pies" (1966) [TV-Series]
This classic TV series has become an instant cult phenomenon in Poland
from the moment it first hit the screens in 1966. Entire generations
of young Polish boys have been raised on it (including myself), often
playing under the tables pretending that it's the ''Rudy'' tank. The
Communist propaganda didn't matter and was actually quite weak. In
fact, the series felt more pro-Russian (and pro-Georgian) than
pro-Communist. And it even contained a few thinly-veiled hints of
Stalinist crimes: after all, when we first meet Janek, he lives in the
middle of the Siberian taiga forest. It doesn't take a genius to
figure out how he got there - he was certainly deported along with 1
or 2 millions other Poles in 1939-1941. There are also various
characters in the series who refer to various nasty gossips about the
Soviet Red Army - an oblique way of acknowledging that the Soviet
''liberation'' of Poland wasn't perceived as such by many (if not most) Poles.
The series is divided into 21 episodes of 1 hour each. In the first 8
episodes, we follow Janek, Gustlik, Grigorij and their boss Olgierd
from Oka (in 1943) to Gdansk (in March 1945). The war is almost over,
Olgierd dies, but then the series is resurrected for 13 more episodes
that last barely a month (from March to May 1945). Tomek Czeresniak
joins the crew that fights German saboteurs on the Pomeranian seacoast
and then joins the big offensive across the Odra river all the way to
Berlin. Generally speaking, the later episodes are slightly better
than the earlier ones - the action scenes are more exciting, and
Wieslaw Golas (playing Tomek) is way more fun than Roman Wilhelmi (who
plays Olgierd). Particularly exciting is the episode when the tank
crew is taken prisoner by the Germans near the Odra river, and the
''Rudy'' tank is used as target practice on an artillery range. The
episode when the tank enters the flooded subway tunnels in Berlin is
also very impressive."
Have a nice tour,
Wojciech Jama