A comedy/drama that, through a simple, satirical story about two soldiers on leave, shows the deep and varying problems of people who live in a big, anonymous city. The motif that connects the fates of the majority of Lenartowicz’s lead characters is the need to establish real relations with other human beings and finding one’s place in the world.
A film by Stanisław Lenartowicz, an artist who was unappreciated and pushed away for years, but who is today rightfully considered a “master of mood” and one of the biggest individualities of Polish cinema.
One of the best aspects of the film is an atmospheric, “live” picture of the city of Wrocław of the 1950s – still half ruined, inhabited by a mix of people from various social backgrounds and regions of pre-war Poland, where next to homesick people who were relocated a new, modern generation is coming of age. The movie was filmed entirely on location in Wrocław, and the city itself is one of the main characters.
Two young soldiers, Corporal Kwiwatek and Private Pietrek spend their Sunday lave on the streets of Wrocław. Kwiatek is only interested in fun and fleeting romance, which will get him into serious trouble when he makes friends with a gang of hooligans. Romantic Pietrek believes in great love and goes through an essentially superficial fascination with a stranger. The people met by the young men also have their own moments of joy and sadness , looking for happiness and their way in life. The subsequent adventures add up to a colorful mosaic of interpersonal relations, where the main plot receding to secondary importance.
