Welts, The (2004)

Description:
A film divided against itself, this Polish feature opens with a man (Michal Zebrowski) staring into a mirror. This is our hero, Wojciech, who tells us that though he scarcely believes it, he did in fact have a childhood. In an extended flashback, the first-time director Magdalena Piekorz proceeds to tell us precisely what kind of childhood Wojciech (now played by Waclaw Adamczyk) endured at the heavy hands of his deranged father. This extended interlude has a fine sense of detail and a thick, choking atmosphere that brings us deep into Wojciech’s private world of pain. Which makes it rather disconcerting — and finally disappointing — when after an hour the story shifts back to the adult Wojciech, a lonely, isolated wreck. Although nicely played by Michal Zebrowski, who tries his best to disguise his good looks with a compendium of scowls, the wounded man turns out to be far less gripping than that of the wounded boy. What had been a delicately observed coming-of-age story is forfeited for a banal journey of self-discovery and recovery, complete with a sensitive lover, a torrent of tears and that big fat shiny lie: closure.