VABANK

The big score – Warsaw 1934. Kwinto – played by Jan Machulski, the director’s father – a bank robber as legendary as he is stubborn, gets out of prison only to be greeted immediately by two young hoods that want him to go right back to emptying vaults with them. But Kwinto has a completely different agenda, and rather uncommon intentions for a man of his calling. Machulski laid the cornerstone for all his box-office hits to follow with the gripping plot and precise pacing of this gangster comedy, which makes clear reference to Western cinematic conventions. Released in the midst of the martial law era of the 1980ies, HIT THE BANK whisked viewers back to the colourful world of the Second Polish Republic with its love of period detail and deep humour and allowed them to dream of other possibilities.