Hands Up! (1985)

Interesting facts

Hands Up! is a Polish drama film directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. It is the third of a series of semi-autobiographical films in which Skolimowski himself plays his alter ego Andrzej Leszczyc. Originally filmed in 1967, Hands Up! was banned at the time in communist Poland because it critiqued Nazism in Poland, the Stalinist past in post-World War II Poland, and the socio-political climate in sixties Poland. The communist authorities not only banned the film, but also effectively sent Skolimowski into a lengthy exile.

Production

Hands Up! was originally made in 1967 in monochrome by Zespól Filmowy Syrena (pl) studio. Skolimowski said about the film in 1968 for Sight and Sound, "It is a provocation about political and social problems in Poland: a black film, not very explicit, with lots of allusions. The story line is realistic and non-realistic at the same time, but difficult to talk about.

Witold Sobociński's cinematography for the 1967 film, his first, has been noted for creating a rhythmic sense of mood and light, especially in the transformational space of the dark freight train.

The 1967 film was withdrawn from the Venice Film Festival. During the briefly liberalised climate of Poland's Solidarity movement, Skolimowski was invited to update Hands Up! and "re-release the film" in 1981, prompting Skolimowski to seize upon the abrupt relaxation of censorship.

In a 25-minute section (filmed in colour) added by Skolimowski in 1981, he explains how the original was withheld by Polish censors of the time and that this was a principal cause of his leaving his country; however following liberalisation in Poland, he was invited to resuscitate it.

The 80-minute 1981 release of Hands Up! that screened at Cannes was shelved by Polish censors. When the film was finally screened in Poland in 1985, it was edited down to 76 minutes.

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