Already beset by food shortages, Poland saw the prices of basic goods like meat, dairy and flour reach new highs in the days before Christmas, 1970. To protest this increase and reject the ineffectiveness and corruption of its central government, shipyard workers at Gdansk staged a strike that quickly spread across the entire country. These popular protests at first confused authorities, but as dissent escalated the government’s response grew increasingly violent.

Uniquely told using era-specific animation and puppetry, the film unfolds like a historical thriller, with sinister telephone conversations between faceless bureaucrats providing a beat-by-beat narration of events from a villainous point of view. Archival footage depicts scenes of protest and violence in the streets, while models, marionettes and meticulously designed sets recreate the smoky offices of Cold War-era apparatchiks. With distinctive set pieces that pay homage to a tense moment in history, the ideas of the film continue to resonate in the present, as authoritarian regimes around the world inflict violence and repress dissent. -JC