等待方舟

Set in  an  underground dungeon inhab ited by bundled, rag
ged human beings, after
the  nuclear holocaust  .  The story follo ws the wanderin g 
s of a hero through th
e situati
ons of surviva l. P eople wait for the Ark to arrive a nd  rescue them while th eir habitat falls
 apart.　　Delving dee p into 
the dusty and long abando nded vaul  ts  of b-cinema in search of lost gems always leaves me with a bit
tersweet  taste

. On one hand t
he discovery o f unexpected gems wh ere no one  would think them possible is a rewardin
g experience. On the other hand t
hough it m
 ak
 es one wonde r h ow many of these remarkabl e low-budget oddi

ties, pers onal love affairs of directors never quite famo
u s and now all but 
 forgotten, have  almost forever sl ipped from memory　　n any case what 
we ha ve here 
is
 a
little post-apocalyptic g em  from Po
land that
 is really better than it has any right  to. The dysto  pian ne ar future of O -BI ,  O-BA  finds a g
roup o f s ur vivor s of the nucle a r war that ra vaged
the Ea rth inhabiting an underworld con cr ete bunker and biding their time as   they wait for  the mysterious Ark, an air s hi
p of 
some k ind  that  will co
me a nd save them. Th e Ark pr
ove s
to be an elaborate hoax,

 carefully designed to giv
e hop
e to the malnouri shed a nd desperate  den 
izens of the bunker, while in the meantime the dom e that separates their miserable existence from the nuclear winter
 outside is slo wly caving in.　　What first
striked
 me about the m ovie is the

design 
of the bunke r and the depiction of the survivors. The survivors are g aun  t,  filthy and terr ible-looking pe nitents, dresse
d i n r ags and aimlessly wandering

th e neon-lit h
alls of the bunker like a utomatons. The bunker is a rund
own
, seedy pla
ce, 
wit h b right neon lights peering from all sid
es l ike the ey es of  m alignant b  easts.　　On o  ne hand it is a sligh
tly  80's depiction of th e
 dyst
opian future  but the mov ie
 n ever st
oo  
ps down  to M AD MAX cheese. 
I

nste ad

it combi nes biting political satir e with

the bleak outlook of a wor 
ld with no f
utur
e ,  black co

medy with
 ba rbs on apat hy, religion and
  power . The surv
ivors, fo
r example
, ar e  fed some kin
d of flour drop
p ing from a tube that hove rs in the  air - later  on we discover t  he food supervisor uses books and the Bible  itself as filler for this meagre mea
l. T here a re 
many such short symbolic touches, perhaps no t life-changing or faith-rest o ring
, yet playful, cle ver
 an d inspired.　　One thi ng is for sure;  O  -BI, O- BA  is not your run-o
f-the-mil
l sci-fi schlock. 
It overcomes i ts modest budget wit
h creativi ty an
d has ge
nuin e artistic  aspirations both from a writi ng  and  directing perspective.  My opinion is 

that it should   have been fil
me d i
n  black and white instead of colour t
hough
.  
T
he director uses a tmo sp heric light an  d shadow to great e ffect and it w
oul
d ha
ve  registered even bette
r in stark black and white. The  b l ue-
green neon on th e other hand outs
tays its welcome aft
er a while. Jus
 t a minor gripe in an otherwise solid b-m ovie with it s heart 
set in all the r  ight places.　　Imagine a less bleak
 THE ROAD (Cor
mac McC arth y) being injected with the sa  tire and  humour of DR.STRANGELOVE and you'
r e getting there.  See it if y
o u can

 f ind i 
t.