Engineer Franciszek Pieczka is deputed to take over the construction of a factory in a small city in Poland. Although there are problems with the plans, he sets to work with a will. Soon, however, he finds opposition from the locals whose lives are disrupted, or can't get jobs on the project. As the project haltingly advances, the opposition grows, and he finds himself in conflict with the Party and the unions.
Krzysztof Kieslowski's first feature often has a documentary feel to it, but it's more of a character study. Pieczka is a technocrat, someone who knows how to get things done in terms of taking plans and allocating resources, but cannot factor in the personalities and conflicts of people into his equations. His relationship with his wife is a long-distance one; with his daughter, a criticized one. Although Kieslowski was later dissatisfied with the movie as an artifact of "social realism", and blamed the script, Pieczka's performance makes it very watchable.
Krzysztof Kieslowski's first feature often has a documentary feel to it, but it's more of a character study. Pieczka is a technocrat, someone who knows how to get things done in terms of taking plans and allocating resources, but cannot factor in the personalities and conflicts of people into his equations. His relationship with his wife is a long-distance one; with his daughter, a criticized one. Although Kieslowski was later dissatisfied with the movie as an artifact of "social realism", and blamed the script, Pieczka's performance makes it very watchable.