Documentary about a bricklayer who, during the Stalinist era, was encouraged by the Party to become an exemplary worker and further the Communist cause. A young activist, he was promoted and he says, "I became a jack-in-office, instead of an activist... I got a desk job and gasped for breath, I had to let in fresh air through the window . .. And then came the year I956 and everything tumbled down all of a sudden. It was a little painful. The question was: What now? And in 1956 I asked them to relieve me and send me back to my job in production. I returned where I had come from.' The camera follows the brick- layer - a man whose life has been used up by ideological powers above him - during a May Day parade, alternating with scenes from his daily life.

• Director: Krzystof Kieslowski
• Editor: Lidia Zonn
• Sound: Malgorzata Jaworska
• Production Manager: Tomasz Golebiewski
• Production company: WFD

35mm colour - 17 mins 39 secs