Torowisko

The Junction is situated in post-Communist Poland, in the ‘new’ world, in that confusing phase in which democracy still largely has the appearance of crime and sexual freedom. The promise of the new order would appear to be unattainable for Maria. Imprisoned in a provincial town, in the banal routine of everyday life, there are few ways out. Her best – and only – friend Krystyna is more adventurous and enterprising, and also determined to leave. Together they regularly hitchhike into town. When they meet a truck driver there and Maria falls in love with him, the two girlfriends are driven apart. And when Maria accidentally witnesses Krystyna being raped, that marks the end of their friendship. Back home the situation also becomes increasingly threatening. Maria’s brother starts trafficking in drugs and her mother takes a man into the house. But in the end Maria gets the power to take matters into her own hands and leave. Depressing life in a backward and provincial town acquires a surprisingly light tone in The Junction, especially because Urbaniak concentrates with great love and eye for detail on the characters of the two protagonists. It is largely their mutual relationship that is sketched with great warmth and attention to detail, even though they both go their separate ways in the end.