The Office (film)
Encyclopedia
The Office is a 1966 short film by Polish
director Krzysztof Kieślowski
, produced while he was a student at the Łódź Film School. The film is included as an extra on the Region 1 and 2 releases of Kieslowski's feature film No End.
The film's runtime of 5 minutes consists entirely of interactions at a government office service window, with a clerk handling various requests by people seeking state aid. The film portrays the intense bureaucracy
that existed in Polish government services at the time, with the people being turned away for various procedural violations. One request is denied because the applicant brought too many identifying documents, they were told that they needed an official nullification of one of the redundant papers. Another man encounters difficulty because a document was stamped with a square, rather than a round seal.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
director Krzysztof Kieślowski
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Krzysztof Kieślowski was an Academy Award nominated influential Polish film director and screenwriter, known internationally for The Double Life of Veronique and his film cycles The Decalogue and Three Colors.-Early life:...
, produced while he was a student at the Łódź Film School. The film is included as an extra on the Region 1 and 2 releases of Kieslowski's feature film No End.
The film's runtime of 5 minutes consists entirely of interactions at a government office service window, with a clerk handling various requests by people seeking state aid. The film portrays the intense bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
that existed in Polish government services at the time, with the people being turned away for various procedural violations. One request is denied because the applicant brought too many identifying documents, they were told that they needed an official nullification of one of the redundant papers. Another man encounters difficulty because a document was stamped with a square, rather than a round seal.