Teddy Bear (1981 film)

Teddy Bear is the English title of Miś [miɕ], a 1981 Polish comedy film directed by Stanisław Bareja.

Teddy Bear, along with The Cruise (Rejs), was a reflection of contemporary Polish society using surreal humor to somehow get past the censorship at the time.

Rysiek (Stanisław Tym, who also co-wrote the screenplay), the shrewd manager of a state-sponsored sports club, has to travel to London before his ex-wife Irena (Barbara Burska) gets there to collect a large sum of money from their joint savings account.

Hilarity ensues as Bareja gives the audience a guided tour of the corruption, absurd bureaucracy, pervasive bribery and flourishing black market that pervaded socialism in the People's Republic of Poland.

Perhaps playing on the well-established Russian Bear trope, Misha is the mascot of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, the same year as the film.

Quotation from Teddy Bear advertising the XXXIV Polish Film Festival in Gdynia 2009