Piotr Szulkin’s War of the Worlds: Next Century follows Iron Idem (Roman Wilhelmi), normally all smiles while on TV. But despite what he presents in his ‘independent’ news show, life on the streets is gloomy, like him. The film takes place in the United Kingdom at the previous century’s end, when Martians land and take over. Idem’s job is as the Martian’s propaganda arm while ‘off screen’ the Martians, with collaborators take his wife Gea (Krystyna Janda). He searchers for her through the proper channels which only lands him into a shelter for some unhoused men. Because the shelter forces men to donate their blood and he refuses, they evict him onto the streets.

On the streets, Iron meets a sleazy lawyer (Jerzy Stuhr) telling him to forget his wife. He also sees the Martians and their collaborators shoot people without moral qualms. Those younger witnesses with him, though, may provide hope for a resistance against an occupying force that is weaker than they seem. The youth inspire him to resist only to face arrest from shifty authority figures (including Stanisław Tym). There are a few scenes here where characters recognize Idem from the work he does on TV. These characters who recognize him are mostly male, which is the film’s only glaring error. Another stray thought about War of the Worlds before I go back on topic is that Iron Idem is such a ‘canon’ type name.

Anyway, the encounters between Idem and the ‘fans’ go half and half when it comes to seeing the real him. Others in War of the Worlds aren’t so forgiving, like his bunkmate at the shelter, deriding him for brainwashing his millions of viewers. On the one hand, the bunkmate isn’t totally wrong, he can just quit despite the dire consequences. On the other, this bunkmate bullying speaks to how these characters have first impressions and stick with them forever. This film is less about the Martians but about human perception is more oppressive. They’re worse than the Martians, silent creatures who vandalise apartments and kill innocent humans.

The rest of War of the Worlds, though, has that gloomy blue filter and 80s muzak that feel like torture. Another, better element in the film is Iron reacting to things which, kudos to Wilhemi’s face that gives expressive nuances. All of these elements, though, help build this film as a metaphor about invasive forces familiar to Poland. The canonical interpretation of this film is that it criticises communism although the metaphor feels elastic to me. Idem’s dual life as a TV celebrity and an unhoused person is realistic within the British and Western capitalist framework. It’s interesting to see the film in this light in this time, knowing what we know four decades later. Viewers can, then, see the film as foreshadowing of the Iron Curtain’s fall and anxieties coming with regime change.

Watch War of the Worlds: Next Century on MUBI.