Like most Polish movies of the Communist era, "Teddy Bear" has several layers of meaning. On the surface it's a comedy of absurdities. But the absurdities make perfect sense in the political context of Poland of the 1970th. The movie shows Communism is its final stages of decay. The system becomes a game with complex and absurd rules. Only people who master these rules can be successful. The film's hero is one of them.
The key to understanding the movie is the dialog between the hero and a film producer about a straw bear--a giant prop for the movie they are making. The producer uses common sense to try to minimize the movie's production costs. The hero explains to him how rational arguments don't apply in the system they are living in. The simpleton film producer is initiated in the ways of the system.
There is a progression from George Orwell's stern an tragic "1984", through Terry Gilliam's tragicomic "Brazil", to the comically absurd "Teddy Bear"--a progression which reflects the various stages and versions of Communism. The Polish version is the most benign and tongue-in-cheek and the film describes it perfectly.
The key to understanding the movie is the dialog between the hero and a film producer about a straw bear--a giant prop for the movie they are making. The producer uses common sense to try to minimize the movie's production costs. The hero explains to him how rational arguments don't apply in the system they are living in. The simpleton film producer is initiated in the ways of the system.
There is a progression from George Orwell's stern an tragic "1984", through Terry Gilliam's tragicomic "Brazil", to the comically absurd "Teddy Bear"--a progression which reflects the various stages and versions of Communism. The Polish version is the most benign and tongue-in-cheek and the film describes it perfectly.