Hejter – Sala samobojców. Hejter (2020)

Directed by: Jan Komasa | 135 minutes | drama, thriller | Actors: Maciej Musialowski, Vanessa Aleksander, Danuta Stenka, Jacek Koman, Agata Kulesza, Maciej Stuhr, Adam Gradowski, Piotr Biedron, Jedrzej Wielecki, Jan Hrynkiewicz, Martynika Kosnica

From the outside he looks like a good boy. It’s a creep inside. Tomasz Giemza, main character of the Polish thriller-drama ‘Hejter’, is not one to befriend. The boy comes from a humble family in the Polish province, but he wants to belong to the elite of Warsaw. To achieve that, he will stop at nothing. He installs eavesdropping devices, betrays those who have put their trust in him and devises dirty plans.

We meet Tomasz when he is thrown out of college for plagiarism. He will work at a PR agency that mainly depends on negative publicity. With the help of social media, the agency is razing talented entrepreneurs and politicians to the ground. Tomasz is deployed to destroy the campaign of mayoral candidate Pawel Rudnicki. For the bitter and ruthless Pawel, this is the chance to take revenge on the Polish elite that always rejected him.

‘Hejter’ is the fourth feature film by Polish director Jan Komasa. The official title is ‘Sala samobójców. Hejter’ refers to Komasa’s first feature film ‘Sala samobójców’ (‘Suicide Room’) from 2011. Like that film, part of ‘Hejter’ is set in virtual reality and deals with the deep chasm between virtual existence and real life. life. The way the PR agency uses fake accounts to destroy people is already insane, but the way frustrated loners are recruited and deployed is even more appalling. The idea that bitter manipulators like Tomasz have free rein on the internet is hard to comprehend, but the reality is.

Komasa takes the time to tell his story. Also to deepen the relationship between Tomasz and a family from the elite, a family that supports him financially but at the same time looks down on him. As befits a good story, this family still plays an important role in the denouement, when all the lines drawn reach their final station.

The uncomfortable, dark and cynical ‘Hejter’ warns once again about the dangers of the internet and the invisible forces that do their destructive work there. All this in beautiful images, played by fine actors and with nice music as a bonus. Less bizarre than Komasa’s ‘Corpus Christi’ (2019), but of the same quality. But it won’t make you happy.