Bread and Salt (Chleb i sól)

Taking a small city in Poland director Damian Kocur, with co-writer Marta Konarzewska, have crafted a gem of a film that casts some light on immigration, migration and the frustrations of young adult life in Poland.

Tymoteusz (Tymoteusz Bies) has returned from the Warsaw music academy to spend the summer in his hometown, with his brother and mother. His brother Jacek (Jacek Bies) is also a talented pianist but failed the entry exam and has now flopped into bad habits of no practice and hanging out at a local kebab shop with friends.

The kebab shop is run by two Arab brothers played by Nadim Suleiman and Nadeem Shalave (who speak in Arabic and is not subtitled). There’s racism but as long as the locals get their beer and kebabs and the brothers get paid there’s little problem.

As Tym starts to reacquaint himself with his friends he finds that ambitions are mixed. Jac’s girlfriend Ania is content to stay put, while Nikola (Nikola Raczko) has returned from abroad, Dawid (Dawid Piejko) is looking to get a menial job in Norway to learn to speak English.

As the days string out over the summer, at the lake, with the group drinking and horsing about so the viewer gets a picture of the place. As much from the expressions on Tym’s face as he looks on with a mixture of incredulity and condescension, as from the actions of his friends.

Tym’s experience of outright racism against one of the brothers on a bus (where Nikola tries to intervene) leads him try and talk to the brothers, in English. He makes some headway but any trust he built is destroyed by his own actions and an ensuing tragedy.

Bread and Salt (A traditional polish welcome.) is a multi-layered film that has the look of a documentary (many of the cast are amateurs). The grey concrete city and its apparently endless apartment blocks where life trundles on, are symbolic of the lack of aspiration there.

But some are making the effort. Tym used his talent to get out of the city (and looking to go abroad), urging Jac to do the same. Jac however is content with his lot, happy with Ania, and has little aspiration other than to stay put.

There’s a mixture of attitudes explored by the freestyle rap of the locals. It’s a breeding ground of resentment fuelled by ignorance ‘they are speaking Muslim’ one bright spark comments in the kebab shop, that ups the ante against the brothers.

The film is probably best appreciated on the two main strands regarding the frustrations of life in these monolithic hubs, and an underlying racism that breeds out of boredom and ignorance. The two don’t mesh that well together during the film but stand equal scrutiny.

Kinoteka Polish Film Festival 2023 takes place in venues across London 9 March - 27 April
For further information and tickets: https://kinoteka.org.uk/