The War of the Worlds: Next Century

The War of the Worlds: Next Century
The War of the Worlds: Next Century
	Theatrical release poster
Polish	Wojna światów – następne stulecie
Directed by	Piotr Szulkin
Written by	Piotr Szulkin
Starring	Krystyna Janda; Jerzy Stuhr; Janusz Gojos; Bożena Dykiel; Zbigniew Buczkowski; Witold Pyrkosz; Stanisław Tym; Roman Wilhelmi;
Cinematography	Zygmunt Samosiuk
Edited by	Elżbieta Kurkowska
Music by	Jerzy Maksymiuk; Józef Skrzek;
Production; company	Zespol Filmowy "Perspektywa"
Distributed by	Asociace Ceských Filmových Klubu
Release dates	September 11, 1981 (Gdańsk); February 20, 1983 (Poland);
Running time	92 minutes
Country	Poland
Language	Polish

The War of the Worlds: Next Century (Polish: Wojna światów – następne stulecie) is a 1981 Polish dystopian film^[3] written and directed by Piotr Szulkin.^[1] Although it was inspired by, including the title deriving from, H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, it is not an adaptation of the novel.

The story follows a news presenter called Iron Idem (Roman Wilhelmi) who is forced to assist in the agenda of the newly-invaded Martians. Krystyna Janda, Jerzy Stuhr, Janusz Gajos, Bożena Dykiel, Zbigniew Buczkowski, Witold Pyrkosz, and Stanisław Tym also star. The film premiered at the Gdańsk Film Festival on 11 September 1981, before releasing theatrically in Poland on 20 February 1983.

Plot

The film starts with the arrival of a more advanced civilization from Mars which purports to have a friendly attitude towards Earthlings. The place visited by the Martians resembles a police state in which a huge role is played by television, which is used as a propaganda tool.

The main character of the film, Iron Idem is a news presenter who has a popular TV program, Iron Idem's Independent News. However, the news that is presented on his program is carefully chosen by Idem's boss who later orders the kidnapping of Idem's wife. Iron Idem is forced to collaborate with the state apparatus, which is working together with blood-thirsty Martians, and encourages people to make sacrifices and give blood in the hope of having his wife and normal life returned.

After being thrown out of his flat, Idem has a chance to observe stupefied citizens who fall victim to the repression of the state apparatus. Finally, the main protagonist rebels and criticizes society during a TV Super Show which is a concert organized as a farewell to the Martians.

On the day after the Martians departure the Earth’s mass media change their perception of the whole situation and the visit from Mars is viewed as an aggressive invasion and Iron Idem is shown as the main collaborator. He agrees to collaborate with his mock trial in exchange for seeing his wife but she is delivered dead in the same bag her captors used to kidnap her. Finally he is sentenced to death and executed by firing squad where he only show as dead on the television screen in what appears to be an [afterlife] moment. He leaves the television studio and steps into an outside world obfuscated by light and mist.

Cast

Release

The War of the Worlds: Next Century had its world premiere at the Gdańsk Film Festival on September 11, 1981.^[4] It was immediately banned by the Polish government upon its release because it depicted political parallels with the political context of the country at that time, and did not receive a theatrical release in Poland until 20 February 1983.^[5]