1670 Review: The Polish satirical historical comedy series filmed in the mockumentary style stars Bartłomiej Topa as Jan Pawel Adamczewski, an amusingly idiosyncratic nobleman owning half of the village of Adamczycha, who embarks on the quest to become Poland’s most famous person, Katarzyna Herman as Zofia, Pawel’s wife, Martyna Byczkowska as Aniela, Pawel’s progressive daughter fighting for social causes, Michał Balicki as Stanisław, Pawel’s eldest son and the original heir of the family estate, and Michał Sikorski as Jakub, Pawel’s younger son, also a sly priest in lead roles. Releasing on Netflix on December 13, the series has been written by Jakub Rużyłło and directed by Maciej Buchwald and Kordian Kądziela.
Consisting of 8 episodes, each with a runtime of 29-37 minutes, the Netflix series also stars Kirył Pietruczuk as Maciej, Dobromir Dymecki as Bogdan, Andrzej Kłak as Andrzej and others in important roles. Centred around Jan Pawel’s quest to become the most prominent man in Poland, the show depicts his family members’ eccentric escapades as they attempt to maintain their social standing as nobility or end up acting on their personal latent desires that work against their position in the hierarchy.
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-1670 Netflix Review Contains No Spoilers-
1670 Review
A lot could’ve gone wrong in this historically situated premise for a mockumentary, and yet 1670 managed to head towards the other side with its deadpan humour style amalgamated with a blend of history about serfdom and nobility. Pulling in several themes of the age, the series may still not be the best example to rely on in terms of learning about the historical accuracy of the age, but it doesn’t even intend to serve that role either.
On the contrary, it uses the same style of comedy as seen before in The Office series, and Bartłomiej Topa’s apparent standout performance as Jan Pawel is the glimmering leading piece that deserves all the applause. Despite his character’s questionable dispositions that make working conditions for his workers worse than ever, his intriguing envy directed at Andrzej Kłak’s character, who owns the bigger half of the village makes the series an enjoyable mess.
The same string of information also ropes in his wife, played by Katarzyna Herman, who gives way to a close second memorable performance as someone who always zones out whenever Jan starts speaking, yet still manages to share his hatred for Andrzej as he too vies to nab a magnate’s son to marry his daughters, much like Jan and Zofia do for Aniela.
Bartłomiej Topa’s dialogues like, “I didn’t get a free ride, you know. I inherited all this myself”, to encourage his eldest son to partake in the family business instead of squandering his time on arts and music, which he disproves of, encapsulate the essence of the kind of non-bombastic comedy the show relies on to make its case. Martyna Byczkowska also commands the screen in her solo shots as she tries her best to make a case for feminism and bring attention to women’s voices without turning the dialogues into preachy and moralising sermons.
The production quality and standards of the show work in the favour of the project, which when put together with the actors’ onscreen contributions, completely transport us to the old-age setting even though the dialogues and spoken word remind us of modern slang inspirations that capture the mood of the comic theme.
As long as you view the whole picture with a grain of salt and don’t expect a through and through historically accurate representation of the indignation felt on the part of people from the lower strata of the socio-economic ladder (because the show isn’t here to make a grand remark on it), you’ll safely enjoy the cruder portrayal of self-inflicting comments made by the nobility, distantly highlighting their views on xenophobia and hypocrisy (which are obviously scorned at and brought to attention in the wackiest way possible).
1670 Series on Netflix: Final Thoughts
If you enjoy watching satirical comedies or mockumentary-themed content, then this series will be right up your alley. It brings about the adequate mix of chaos with drama and a sense of the social setting of the age it’s set in with a production value that does wonders to spark this make-believe world with realism that’s also been interjected with modern meme-ish culture and tone. There may be moments wherein the show may lose your attention, but other zany moments will bring you back to it eventually.
1670 is now streaming on Netflix.
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