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Set  i
n an underground dun geon inh
abited by bund led, r agge d human beings, a
fter the nuclear holocaust.
The story follows the wan dering s of  a h ero through the situations of su rvival. People wait for the Ar
k to arriv
e and rescue t hem while 
their habita t 
falls apart.
　　Delving  deep i nto the dusty and l
ong a
bandonded 
vaul
 ts of b-c
inema in sear
ch 
of lost gems  al

ways leaves me with a b
itterswee
t taste. On one ha
nd

the discovery of une
x
pected gem 
s where no one w
ould
think them possible is a reward ing experience. O n t  he other hand tho
ugh it  makes one wonder h ow many of these remarkable low-b udg et oddities, personal
l

ov
e affairs of directors nev er  quite famous
 a nd now all but f
orgotten, h ave a
lmost forever sli
ppe
d fro m memory　　n any case what we ha v e here is a little  p ost-apocalyptic gem from  Poland 
that is really better than it has any 
right to. The dystopian near future of O-BI, O-BA finds a group

 of survivors of the nuclea
 r war that ravaged the Eart
h
  inhabiting an underworld concre
te 
bunker and biding their time 
a
s they wait for  the myste rious A rk, an air ship o

f som e kind that will
 come an
d save them. The Ark pr  ov es to be an elaborate hoax, carefully designed to gi 
ve hope to the malno uri
s
he d and despe

r
ate deniz
e
ns o f the bunke  r, while in t  h e meantime the dome  that 
separate s  their misera ble ex  istence f
 rom the nuc
le 
ar winter ou tsid e is sl owly c
aving in.　　What first striked me about the mov
ie is the design o f the bunker
 and
 the dep
ic tion o f t
he survi vors. T he su rvi
vors are  gaunt, filth y and terribl
 e-look

 ing 
penitents, dre
ssed
 
in r ags and aimlessl
y wande 
r
ing the neon-lit halls of th
e bunker like automatons. Th e bunker is  a rundown, seedy place , with bright  neon lights pee 
ring
 from all sides like the eyes of mali
gnant beasts.　　 
On one hand it is a slightly 
80's depiction of the dystopian future but the mov ie never sto ops  down to MAD MAX c
hee
se. Instea
d i 
t combines biting politica
 l satire wi
th   the bleak outlook of a world with no future
 ,  blac k comedy wi th barb
s on apathy , re ligion  and p ower. The survivors, fo
r example, are fed some kind of 
 f
lou

r dr opping from   a tube that h ove rs in the 
air - later 
on we disco v
e r  the  food superv
isor us  es books and the B ible itself as filler for this m eagre   meal. Ther
e are many
 such short symbolic
  touches, perhap s not l
ife -changing
 o r fai
th-restori ng, yet playful , clever and inspired.　　
One
thin g

is for sure ; O
 -BI, O -BA is not
 yo ur run-of-the -mil l sci-f
i schlock. It
overcome s

its modest  b
udget

with creativ  ity  and has genuine artistic aspirations both from a writing and direc
ting perspective

. M
y o pini
on is that it should have been f il 
med in
 b la  ck and whi te i nstead of col our though.

 The dire
ctor
 uses atmospher 
ic light and shadow to great  effect
 and it would have regi 
stered even better  
in stark  black and w
hi te. Th
e blu e-green neon  on the other hand outstays its welcom e after a while
. Just  a minor gripe  in an otherwise s olid b-movie with its he
art set in all th e right places.　　Imagine  a l
ess bleak THE ROAD (Cor


m ac McCarthy) being inj
ected with t he satire and humour of DR.STRANGELOVE and
 you'

re
 getting there. See it if you can find it.