Meska sprawa

The most engaging short movie I have ever seen. Meska Sprawa proves that one can deal with very serious issues in 26 minutes. If you haven't seen it, do it right now. No wonder Slawomir Fabicki's first (!) movie gets awards at any short movie festival.

This is a short film about child abuse. The child actor is very engaging, extremely natural, very well led by the director. The cinematography gives everything a grimy, realistic, post-communist bleakness. Kudos to the director for keeping everything tight and lean. Whether the film could be more uplifting is a question of taste. Polish cinema isn't exactly known for it's light touch so don't expect a happy ending.

The only real problem with the story is that it's not very original. In fact, it looks like a compressed version of "Kes" with dogs subsituted for birds. I guess if you haven't seen that Ken Loach film it won't matter but this fact stuck out for me.

Yes, so engaging, one can not see it without a struggle of heart. But there's something more, this short breaks one of happy end scenary schema. It's so true. Brings you pictures from real world,our world. Encourages you to look around. Can make you begin see more, understand more. Forces you to think some things over one more time.

A young boy lives near a dog shelter and plays football for a school team. He also suffers from extreme cruelty from his aggressive father. When his team coach buys new kit it means Bartek will have to get changed in front of everyone else, exposing the marks on his body. His refusal to play leads to a confrontation between him, his coach and his father.

As a short film lover I try to get them from all over – but I'm a fool, so I assume that foreign films won't be as good as UK or US shorts. However this is a very good look at a child abuse situation. The setting is rough and real and the attention to detail is good. I got into the boy's situation easily – all the adults in his life are pretty aggressive and he has grown quiet when around them. It's not sensationalising anything and many may be let down by how down beat the drama is.

I admit that it did have an unsatisfying edge to it as I naturally expect this sort of thing to have a semi-happy or emotional ending, whereas this is more downbeat. I still felt impacted by the reality though. The cast are excellent and you never for a second think `these actors are good' because I never saw them as pretending or giving a performance. Bartosz Idczak was great and really brought Bartek into life.

Overall it may be a little bleak and ordinary for some viewers but the characters are great and the direction is excellent. It may be downbeat but this is well worth a look.