Keeping Solidarity in secret

 MOONLIGHTING (1982)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A British home workman might charge more money to renovate a home than a Polish worker who just wants a chance to make a little money to, you know, to buy a watch and a bicycle. "Moonlighting" is about Polish workers who come into London with temporary visas to illegally renovate a Polish government official's home. This may not sound like an exciting story for a movie but when you consider the logistical complications of the Polish workman doing a job illegally and secretly while Poland is facing martial law, "Moonlighting" becomes one of the great, exciting, humorous political films of all time without bluntly throwing politics in your face.

Jeremy Irons is completely convincing as a Polish foreman, Nowak, who brings along his workers to London and he is the only one that can speak English. They move into the flat, demolish walls, work through the nights at times, paint and fall behind schedule too. The men need entertainment so the funds are used to buy a TV for forty pounds that has no plug and no antenna (referred to as "aerial") so they can watch sports. When the TV breaks down, it almost comes as a blessing in disguise because Nowak discovers through the British national newspaper that Poland is under martial-law (the Solidarity movement). The laborers can't speak or read in English and they also can't speak to their relatives or families in Poland since all lines are cut off. In addition, Nowak starts running out of money and finds a clever way of stealing from a local supermarket by misplacing his gloves. Will the Solidarity movement end before they finish their work or will they find out that their foreman has been keeping a secret?

"Moonlighting" is fluidly directed by Polish film director Jerzy Skolimowski ("The Shout"), and all the possibilities and outcomes of such a dire scenario are played out with utmost skill and authority. Every frame of "Moonlighting" contains escalating tension between Nowak and his tired workers. Every detail is wrung out from Nowak collecting a neighbor's newspaper for the latest headlines, to stealing a bicycle when his own is stolen, to the supermarket managers catching on to his thievery, to Nowak's black-and-white picture of his wife, to trying and failing to pick up a salesgirl, and avoiding clashes with the apartment landlord who can't stand the loud construction noise during the night. Irons gets underneath the skin of Nowak, a man facing a monumental crisis of faith in himself and his native country. The final scene of revelation is a nail-biter, showcasing the realities of a world falling apart.

 Simply made with complex weaving of fragile emotions and fragile relationships between Nowak and his workers without seeing one frame (other than on a TV news channel) of Poland's Solidarity in late 1981, "Moonlighting" is essential cinema about a fractured, frenzied time that demands attention and recognition.