Product Details

• Actors: Marek Kondrat, Janina Traczykówna, Andrzej Grabowski, Michal Koterski, Joanna Sienkiewicz
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: Polish
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Vanguard Cinema
• DVD Release Date: November 25, 2003
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000CABHW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #168,369 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Day of the Wacko (Dzien Swira)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Day of Wacko is the newest dark comedy from the director of the internationally acclaimed Nothing Funny. Day of Wacko depicts a day in the life of a 49- year-old elementary school teacher who is completely disillusioned with his reality. As he looks for causes for his unhappiness, he blames his neighbors, his mother, his student, everyone but himself. But things won’t turn around until he first takes a serious look at his own pathetic self. Polish with English subtitles

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Daily Living Drives School Teacher Crazy, November 11, 2004

By 

Richard J. Brzostek (New England, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Day of the Wacko (Dzien Swira) (DVD)

"The Day of Wacko" (2002; or "Dzien Swira") is a film about a school teacher named Adas (as played by Marek Kondrat) that goes crazy from his daily living. His neighbors annoy him, his students do not respect him, he feels his mother controls him, the people in the store push him, and just living is stressful for him. This is a "dark comedy," filled with a lot of crude humor.

The story is shown from the viewpoint of Adas, as he narrates his thoughts throughout the day, with some dialogue with the people he interacts with. The viewers see how he lives, eats, sleeps, bathes, goes to bathroom, and goes about his day. "The Day of Wacko" is very funny at times, but some parts, as going to bathroom and bathing, may be a bit much for some. Although the story of someone loosing his mind is sad, this film puts a comic twist on it, albeit doused with crude humor.

"The Day of Wacko" is a 90 minute Polish film directed by Marek Koterski. This DVD has English subtitles to help understand the film, if you are not fluent in Polish. Overall, this is not a film for kids due to the language and crude content.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Wacko He Was, August 17, 2005

By 

Leszek Strzelecki (Beltsville, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Day of the Wacko (Dzien Swira) (DVD)

One of the traditional strengths of Polish film comedy was always making fun of reality, especially in the political context, in a pointed, dry, sarcastic albeit allegorical way. During the grim and unhappy days of Communism in Poland the filmmakers (and other artists for that matter), in spite of heavy censorship, succeeded in creating many critical portrayals of the conditions of human existence in Poland, conditions that, according to the official propaganda, were continually improving, far superior to life in the Capitalistic societies. These themes are somewhat obsolete now in so far the state no longer imposes any official interpretation of the reality but this by no means is to mean there is no longer any reason to closely scrutinize Polish realm.

Unlike under the Communist rule, a man is no longer so utterly alienated and powerless in the contemporary Poland. Yet many Poles tend to whine and groan about everything no matter what the circumstances. Our "hero", Adas Miauczynski (his last name is suggestive of this "whining" attitude), seems to be the perfect example of such demeanor. It gets so bad one might label his condition with "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" term, or something to that effect, and things become really - nothing funny (to use a title of Koterski's another movie).

Marek Koterski, the film director, seems to be making precisely this point: look into yourself first before you start blaming others for your misfortunes.

But what is supposed to be the strong point of the movie turns into its weakness. The main character's behavior is so ridiculous that even when he is right the viewer sees him wrong. Almost everything that happens to our character is a self-inflicted injury. In the process he loses whatever sympathy he may have had with the viewer in the beginning. Constant complaining, bitching and so forth simply turns the viewer against him. In the end whatever correct observations of the Polish reality today there may have been, they are lost because it comes from the mouth of this ever-grumbling man.

Not a bad film, worth seeing, but too much focus on absurdities of the main character's behavior overshadowed other dimensions of the movie.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars unfortunately you have to be from poland to get this, May 2, 2009

By 

Tommi Makinen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Day of the Wacko (Dzien Swira) (DVD)

This is an absolutely phenomenal satire. It is, however, almost closed to a viewer not familiar with pre-89 Poland. If you thought you did not like White, you will hate this movie. If you enjoyed White, and understood most of Kieslowski's short films, you will love this. It is certainly nowhere near as serious as the Dekalog, but very funny.