Józia - Die Tochter der Delegierten

This East German-Polish coproduction for TV is an overlooked miniature masterpiece, one of those rare pieces where casting around for comparisons only seems to heighten its unique qualities. Set in 1929 in the grim industrial city of Łódź in central Poland it tells a simple story of a little girl whose mother must leave her for a short while to fend for herself in their small but well-furnished tenement. There are agitprop elements as would be expected from the writer Anna Seghers, but those are hardly important. What matters are those intangible elements so hard to bring across in a review; the faithful period detail, the beautifully bold photography, and the sensitive direction combine to produce an ultimately riveting drama from such a simple premise of a girl left home alone. Józia must not only look after herself, but must endure the strain of concealing her presence from her neighbours and even her closest friends. A few days can stretch to an eternity for a child, so will Józia’s mother ever come home? It’s not really giving anything away to say the ending is a marvellous antidote to the cynicism and ugliness of today’s cinema.