Polskie „westerny”

A few Polish movies are quite peculiar from the point of view of the genre. In their style and construction, they are based on the formula of the western pattern. It is worth pointing out that these films are quite good. There is some evidence that the formula of the Wild West story possesses a some timeless and universal vigor. In my essay I have analyzed Polish westerns such as Ogniomistrz Kaleń by Ewa and Czesław Petelscy (1961), Jerzy Passendorfer’s Zerwany most (1962), Bohdan Poręba’s Droga na zachód (1961), Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski’s Wilcze echa (1968), Edward Skórzewski’s and Jerzy Hoffman’s Prawo i pięść 1964), Waldemar Podgórski’s Południk zero (1970), and the famous picture Róża, by Wojciech Smarzowski (2011). All theseworks display some elements of western staffage, but mostimportantly they contain the genre’s characteristics and its deep structures, that is liminal space (Frontier), uncertain time of chaos, some fundamental values in danger, the passive attitude of society, an anti-hero and, of course, the PROTAGONIST — a lonely, heroic, tragic individual, representing the world of ideals.