Teddy Bear (1980 film)


Teddy Bear is the English title of Miś, a 1980 comedy Polish film directed by Stanisław Bareja. Teddy Bear, along with The Cruise , was a reflection of contemporary Polish society using surreal humor to somehow get past the censorship at the time. It gained cult status in its native country.

Plot

Rysiek, the shrewd manager of a state-sponsored sports club, has to get to London before his ex-wife Irena goes to collect an enormous sum of money from a savings account the two used to share in happier days.
But getting out of a communist country is never easy, even for a well-connected operator like Rysiek. It seems that Irena has destroyed Rysiek's hard-won passport to strand him in Warsaw while she's off to London, forcing him to craft a Byzantine scheme which involves the production of a movie with his friend. He uses this as an opportunity to track down his look-alike "borrowing" his passport to stop his wife.
Hilarity ensues as Bareja gives the audience a guided tour of the corruption, absurd bureaucracy, pervasive bribery and flourishing black market that pervaded socialism in the People's Republic of Poland.
The bear is a nickname of the main character, but also a big straw-bear used in a corruption scheme.

Cast