Events ______________

HYDRO-RIDDLE (Hydrozagadka)

dir. Andrzej Kondratiuk, cast. Iga Cembrzyńska, Wiesław Gołas, Wiesław Michnikowski / 1970 / Poland / 70 min


Kondratiuk’s cult absurdist comedy. A superhero comedy modelled on detective films and comic strip parodies, The Hydro-Riddle begins during a Warsaw heat-wave, in which the city’s water supply has inexplicably vanished. Scientists and a detective desperately try to solve the mystery whilst our hero (a grotesque caricature of Superman) uncovers a plot to sell the city’s water water to the maharajah of Kabul. With its gleeful deconstruction of film heroes and icons, its unapologetically inappropriate quotations from Shakespeare, Goethe and others, and its terrific camera-work, it’s hard to believe The Hydro-Riddle was made in communist Poland. A satire on the communist regime and socialist realism. Not only does the hero chase viliains and saves the world, he also fights alcohol and dangerous behaviour in the work place.

London

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