The mockumentary comedy style has been popular since the UK version of "The Office", its American remake (one of the few successful American versions of an overseas TV show), and countless spin-offs.
"1670" is Poland's version of the mockumentary formula.
It takes a lot of the tropes from the genre: the arrogant but dimwitted main character, the slowly building romance that pays off at the end, enjoyable comic relief characters, lots of farcical humour, and plenty of direct-to-camera asides.
Jan Pawel Adamczewski (Bartlomiej Topa) - the head of a Szlachta noble family - is the David Brent/Michael Scott archetype: blessed with a healthy ego and oblivious to how stupid and useless he actually is. Not surprisingly, most of the jokes are at his expense, along with plenty of jokes about the quirks of living in 17th century Poland. Though those familiar with Polish history will probably need to leave their knowledge at the door.
The big drawback of this show is the American dubbing on Netflix. With the all-Polish cast speaking Polish, the dubbing feels unnatural at first, but you eventually get used to it. It's a shame Netflix didn't keep it in the original language with subtitles: perhaps they were worried a show in a foreign language wouldn't be as popular as one with American accents?
Despite this dubbing issues, "1670" is an enjoyable mockumentary that's worth investing your time in.
