In Stalinist Poland, composer Wiktor discovers Zula, a young woman who aspires to be a performer after receiving probation for killing her father. After she successfully auditions for a role in the ensemble, she and Wiktor fall in love, but their love is put to the test after Wiktor leaves for Paris. Many years later, despite them being married to other people, Zula and Wiktor continue their romance, although the borders that separate them mean they have changed into different people. After many tribulations, including Wiktor being imprisoned at a Polish labor camp for illegally crossing the border, the two get secretly married in a ruined chapel before taking their own lives.

I was profoundly moved by Cold War. The look of the film was one of the most striking elements to me, as the black-and-white format situated the setting in the past while the digital camera added a modern sensibility. Despite Cold War being set during the mid-20th century, the story felt very relevant. The fixation on eyes was one of my favorite symbols throughout the movie. When Wiktor stumbles upon the ruined chapel that marks the start and end of the film, the camera focuses on what remains of a mural on the walls, with the eyes staring out like a ghost. Director Pawel Pawlikowski said that the focus on the eyes was unintentional, but I liked his interpretation of the eyes being a symbol for the influence of borders on Wiktor and Zula’s relationship. Although they clearly are in love with each other, the borders that separate them mean that different forces interfere on a constant basis, whether it be the watchful eyes of Stalin or the greedy eyes of Western capitalism that Zula is disillusioned by in Paris. The element of the national gaze is also apparent; when Zula records a Polish folk song reimagined in the Parisian style of the time, she refuses to listen to herself, arguing that it isn’t authentic to her home country. But there is a sense that the folk culture that brought Wiktor and Zula together is no more.

As the story progresses to the 60s, the Soviet Thaw has meant that Poland has started to liberalize, but the Latin American music that Zula sings is only a mediocre copy of the original product. In both instances, the artistic value of an original culture is watered down to fit into the hegemonic music that nations want to impose. This, in turn, filters down into Wiktor and Zula’s relationship. While they both want to be together, they must adapt to the current circumstances to survive, which means they must compromise their artistic expressions. In a way, I find this film to be quite like The Cranes Are Flying (1957), in that it presents a love story through a national lens. While The Cranes Are Flying is mainly a Soviet propaganda film, Cold War takes a more tragic look and examines how the borders of the Soviet Union made one’s own union almost impossible.

This article was originally written for RUST110 PO-01 Russian and Eastern European Cinema, taught at Pomona College by Prof. Larissa Rudova.