“Our Folks”: Ordinary People in Czechoslovak and Polish Cinema around 1968 Iwona Kurz On the cover of the Polish DVD edition of Ecce Homo Homolka by Jaroslav Papoušek (Behold Homolka, 1970) one may read: “a Czech version of Rejs (The Cruise).” In Poland this reference to Marek Piwowski’s 1970 comedy works as the best recommendation. Papoušek’s movie was well known in 1970s thanks to screenings on Polish TV, but its title had been significantly altered to Straszne skutki awarii telewizora, which translates roughly as “the terrible consequences of a broken TV set.” Popular opinion attributed this change to the tonal association of Homolka name with Gomułka, then former first secretary of Polish communist party, who had been made to step down in December 1970. I believe that the association with Jesus Christ also has its importance. Even in the socialist Polish People’s Republic, anything that could offend the Church or the catholic community was considered dangerous, and certainly any construction suggesting even the weakest link between the Son of God and ordinary man could be perceived as such.[1] Certain similarities between Czech movies before 1968 and films made by such Polish directors as Marek Piwowski and Janusz Kondratiuk around 1970 have already been noted (Haltof 141, Mazierska)[2]. These films share certain common motifs and elements of style resulting in the construction of similar images of social reality. Referring mostly to the movies of Miloš Forman and Marek Piwowski, I aim to illuminate not only similarities but also differences in order to highlight the differentiated cultural attitudes toward everyday life and “ordinary people,” disparate author strategies, and the shared aim of subverting existing orders of narration and – perhaps – of power. First of all, it must be kept in mind that the year 1968 marks entirely different socio- political contexts for these two countries of so-called real socialism. For Czechoslovakia it is the year of the greatest open expression and freedom, as well as of the fatal crushing of these liberties as a result of “friendly intervention” by the armies of the Warsaw Pact. Unfortunately, this occurred with the participation of the Polish Army, which invaded its southern neighbor during the military action.[3] For the Poles across the border, 1969 was the final chord of a very “disharmonized’” cultural era. The decade born on the wave of the 1956