Having already managed a stellar feature recently with Corpus Christi, director Jan Komasa and writer Mateusz Pacewicz have another one that has made it to Aussie screens in 2020. Only this one deals with subject matter that is even more confronting than notions of religious belief: The Internet. Specifically, its use as a mass misinformation tool and how online hatred can (and often does) spill over into the other side of the screen. And to be perfectly honest, this feature is so fucking great, it makes the admittedly-impressive Corpus Christi look like these guys were just warming up.
Much like Bartosz Bielenia’s performance in CC, Maciej Musiałowski in the lead here is the magnetic centre that the rest of the production revolves around. And boy, is ‘magnetic’ an appropriate word for this guy, as his turn as university drop-out turned troll extraordinaire Tomasz is eerie in how watchable it is. His character arc as a rising star in an industry built on misery and media manipulation has elements of Nightcrawler to it, and with how conniving and cunning he is in his manipulations, there’s bits of Light Yagami in his methods as well. Granted, this doesn’t get nearly as convoluted as Death Note, but with the level of political chess he’s playing at, it feels comparable.
The depiction of the film at large of his work, that as part of an organised troll farm meant to sway a local mayoral election, is quite frightening in how plausible it all is. To the point where this production became an unfortunate case of being so accurate as to predict the near-future, as real-world Polish mayor Paweł Adamowicz was assassinated at a charity event less than a month after principal photography wrapped up for this, in the midst of brewing hostility surrounding anti-immigration debates. As we watch Tomasz pit nationalist terrorists and well-meaning useful idiots against each other, both on the socials and on the streets, it really drives home how dangerous all this shit is, and how easily anyone can fall into it.
That last point is a vital part of the film’s larger code as, rather than making stark caricatures of the politicians and their supporters (in good faith or otherwise), it follows in CC’s footsteps in that everyone is made into three-dimensional personas, adding texture to why these events are happening. The financial reasons why people get involved in the tech side of things, the inherent freedom in causing this much chaos behind a digital curtain, the media-accelerated fear of their home being at risk from The Other, the realisation that both sides are saying the exact same thing under different contexts; it maps out an intentionally complicated web of deceit to reveal unshakably human and, dare I say it, understandable reasons why this shit is happening.
Even Tomasz himself is part of this, as behind all that sociopathic manipulation and stone-faced puppeteering, there’s a beating heart under that edgelord sweater. In line with the modern face of Internet trolling irrespective of nationality, a fair bit of it is quite incel, along with the Louis Bloom gratification of being particularly good in a vile line of work. Right from the start, he’s shown to be naturally talented at double-speak, and save for a few that have higher belts in Bullshit-Fu, the ease at which he arranges the pieces on the board is both disturbing and disturbingly compelling. He’s basically the perfect kind of cinematic anti-hero: Even with how unmistakably shitty his actions are, there’s still an urge to see what he’s going to pull off next because the performance and the production around it are that damn satisfying.
For a topic this shady, and an approach this holistic, this falls into the category of necessary viewing for me. It’s an intense depiction of what ‘the marketplace of ideas’ really looks like, anchored by a staggering lead performance and the kind of pacing that practically forces the audience to be invested in what’s going on and wait with bated breath for what comes next.
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