Polska wieś z kobiecej perspektywy. Realny socjalizm w twórczości filmowej Ireny Kamieńskiej – wybrane aspekty

The period of the Polish People’s Republic (communist Poland, in Polish: Polska Republika Ludowa, PRL) was a difficult time for the Polish rural population, marked by dynamic changes. Nevertheless, the impact of socialist ideology on Polish agriculture was not as profound as the patterns of Soviet collectivisation present in the official propaganda until the end of the Stalin era could indicate. Traditional family farms operated alongside the nationalised production plants of the new type. The revision and modification of the long-established family and social patterns proved difficult. In the times of rapid industrialisation, young people left their hometowns and villages for the city to find better conditions for personal and professional development. In the 1950s, documentaries started playing the role of a seismograph of social change, with many directors addressing rural issues and adopting a critical and interventional approach to the contemporary situation. This article focuses on Irena Kamieńska, one of the most famous Polish documentary filmmakers, and her capturing of the social aspects of life in the PRL through the prism of historical anthropology. The female perspective, as indicated in the title, can be found in the specific character of Kamieńska’s productions that can be read not only as films documenting the social life of that period but also as universal stories of the excluded, the poor, and the lonely, regardless of age. Kamieńska presents socialism, proclaimed a system of opportunities and development, in equivocal terms. Rather than offer ready answers or fixed instructions the director encourages a deeper reflection and thus subscribes, as a documentary filmmaker, to the larger movement of the Polish cinema of moral anxiety.