Golem [film]
Entry updated 31 August 2026. Tagged: Film.
Polish film (1979). Zespol Filmowy "Perspektywa". Directed by Piotr Szulkin. Written by Piotr Szulkin and Tadeusz Sobolewski: "based on the legend" and avowedly on the novel Der Golem (December 1913-August 1914 Die Weissen Blatter; 1915; cut trans as The Golem 1928) by Gustav Meyrink. Cast includes Mariusz Dmochowski, Krystyna Janda, Krzysztof Majchrzak, Marek Walczewski and Joanna Zólkowska. 90 minutes. Colour.
Concerns that nuclear War will lead to humanity's extinction go hand in hand, we are told, with rumours of experiments to create artificial people able to survive the Post-Holocaust environment; these stories are perhaps fuelled by the Golem legend. Though we have already seen Scientists apparently creating such a creature, the speaker dismisses such rumours.
It is the Near Future in an unspecified country closely resembling contemporary Poland; Pernat (Walczewski), an engraver, is being interrogated over the murder of a neighbour. Another man is also being questioned, who closely resembles Pernat but wears glasses and has poorer dental health: this man dies and Pernat is freed, though ending up with the other's coat (having been given their chit). As he leaves the police building, its windows repeatedly open and close. A suspicion the wrong man was killed is confirmed when scientists are interviewed over a security lapse where one of the prototypes of the new, more resilient humanity had walked out of their facility; they argue that, as Pernat has returned to the dead man's residence, everything is fine: they can monitor his behaviour in the outside world. At the flat Pernat works on engraving a copy of the Hanged Man tarot card. Outside, a disorganized brass band is trying – and failing – to march in formation (we see them a few times more).
We watch Pernat's interactions with the world and people around him, including landlord Holtrum (Dmochowski), his daughter, Rozyna (Janda), and an unnamed son (Majchrzak), who is estranged from his father and appears to be unhinged, lecturing Pernat on the foolishness of the world. A nervous romance begins with another local, Miriam (Zólkowska). Holtrum is building a golem and measures Pernat, believing him an ideal model to base it on. In one scene Pernat watches a live concert: then the true situation is revealed, where the musician is performing at an empty stadium, with the audience and crowd noises inserted by a director and his staff. After one of the people monitoring Pernat is found dead the scientists' superiors decide enough is enough, and shortly after Holtrum is found with a chisel in his neck and Pernat convicted of his murder. Whilst imprisoned he meets a man who claims to have raped and killed Miriam.
On release some years later, Pernat shows the chit for his belongings and is given his original coat; returning to the flat, he discovers and breaks through a false wall, behind which is a kiln holding a golem: he puts his chit in its mouth. In the street below, the brass band have finally got their act together and, as they march off, he joins them.
Pernat is probably a Clone rather than an Android as the scientists refer to his template – the version of him killed might have been this, or an earlier clone – and presumably Genetic Engineering or some other means has been used to make him more resilient. Golem is an unsettling grim farce (see Humour) set in a shabby, run down world that is 1970s Poland in all but name (see Satire), with Pernat trying to make sense of a world largely devoid of that quality, with society and its infrastructure treating individuals as grit that hinders their operation. The story disorientates by sometimes jumping to a new scene without the viewer knowing how much time has lapsed, or with the events of the previous one being unresolved; for instance, the cause of the monitor's death is unclear and, though Pernat is often kind, he might be responsible. The film mainly consists of Pernat's social interactions, which can involve Perception, symbolism, surrealism (see Absurdist SF) and Paranoia – the latter owing something to Franz Kafka – as well as commentary on the state of Poland. There are frequent golem references – for example, Holtrum's efforts and Pernat being described as an "empty clay shell" by Miriam's father (though he eventually retracts this); significantly, his daughter makes or repairs dolls.
Golem is the first of Piotr Szulkin's tetralogy of sf films, the others being Wojna światów – Następne stulecie (1981; vt The War of the Worlds: Next Century), O-bi, o-ba. Koniec cywilizacji (1985; vt O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization) and Ga, ga. Chwała bohaterom (1986; vt Ga-ga: Glory to the Heroes). [SP]
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