The Interrogation Movie Review

As always, 1990's Mill Valley Film Festival was jam-packed with the sort of movies that help to make it my favorite of all the festivals I go to each year. One Polish entry you won't want to miss is The Interrogation. Krystyna Janda plays Tonia, a nightclub performer and good-time girl who's taken in for questioning by the security police and winds up with a grueling five-year prison rap. She is drunk when she's first brought into custody and even the next day, she does not understand how serious her plight is. She willingly reveals that she went to bed with a guy that the police are looking for, but so what, what's the big deal? Gradually, she learns more about her position, her true friends, and the complexity of her relationship with one of her guards. A film with none of the easily identifiable prison stereotypes, The Interrogation is brilliantly written, directed, and acted. It was finally released after an eight-year ban (1982–90). AKA: Przesluchanie.

1982 118m/C PL Krystyna Janda, Janusz Gajos, Adam Ferency, Agnieszka Holland, Anna Romantowska; D: Richard Bugajski; W: Richard Bugajski, Janusz Dymek; C: Jacek Petrycki. VHS