Four Polish workers—Nowak, Banaszak, Wolski and Kudaj—fly from Warsaw to London. Nowak is the only one who speaks English. At the British customs, Nowak feigns they are just here for a tourist visit, but in reality, the four settle at an old house to renovate it and work illegally for a Polish official, since Polish workforce will cost him only a 1/4 of a price than if he would have hired British workers. Nowak dreams of seeing his girlfriend, Anna, again, and goes to buy food while the other three are hiding in the house and working all day. From the news, Nowak finds out about the Soviet crackdown against he Polish solidarity movement, and that martial law was imposed, thereby severing all ties to the Polish state. Nowak keeps this a secret from the three. Since their official was probably arrested as well, they are not paid for their work. At 2am they start a six hour walk to Heathrow airport. Nowak finally tells them about the martial law, and the three attack and beat him up.
"Moonlighting" was assembled as director Jerzy Skolimowski's answer to the crackdown on the Polish Solidarity movement, and thus the whole story has several allegorical motives, though it also encompasses the director's semi-biographical notions, including the immigrants' nostalgia for his homeland. The London house where the four Polish workers are doing construction work is a symbol for Poland, and Nowak for Polish officials (from the Communist era) who are trying to keep the status quo by concealing and censoring bad things happening, thinking they are doing the right thing by keeping the morale of the workers, only to in the end make the things even worse when the people find out. After the fall of Communism, "Moonlighting" feels somewhat not that fresh anymore, since several of its plot points became dated. One detail in particular: Nowak is short on money, so he devises elaborate schemes to get food from a store by using the same receipt of a bread, potatoes, carrots and other food to smuggle the same food again and again, feigning he just forgot the goods in the store. However, in modern era, receipts now have a date on them, and goods have computer chip codes which signal if they are removed from the store, making the whole affair seem dated. "Moonlighting" is an art-film where nothing much happens, and thus a broader spectrum of a viewing experience is missing. Likewise, the abrupt ending feels like a cheat, as if someone "stole" the conclusion and final act of the film. The scene where Banaszak is electrocuted by holding a wire feels staged. Nonetheless, Jeremy Irons is great in the leading role and manages to lift the film even during its lesser moments.
Grade:++
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