Czarna owca

"Czarna owca" (Black sheep) is a story about a multi-generational family in which each of the characters has his own worries and joys. I enjoyed watching it for several reasons. I found many scenes and dialogs funny, but still the style is close enough to social drama, and the credibility of the subplots is not stretched beyond the acceptable limits. Some real family dramas are also shown (including divorce), but the wise philosophical keynote is that we should never give in to despair and should accept things that we cannot change. So the film does not stop to be light and witty. To me, "Black Sheep" is also a fair chronicle of the changing mentality of Polish society, which shows all generations and addresses all generations as potential viewers. The situations and humor are also so universal that they can be understandable to viewers in other countries too. So it can be said that the film was aimed at achieving a commercial success, but I find nothing wrong with that, because to me it is entertainment of decent quality, and you can also find some material for deeper reflections too (like the great story of the school teacher discovering her preference for the same sex-it is an obvious call for tolerance and an appeal to abandon the fundamentalist positions). The quality of scripting and acting is also good. I especially liked Arkadiusz Jakubik, who is for me one of the most talented and versatile Polish actors. So, to sum up, I think that "Black Sheep" is a good compromise between entertainment and some more serious artistic ambitions.