LEÇONS D'UNE UNIVERSITÉ VOLANTE

’Leçons d’une université volante’ is a quintet of short interviews with Belgian immigrants from communist Poland. The Dardennes have said one of the reasons they made documentaries was to gather people together and build communities of workers, immigrants, and activists. This series, which begins with the same historical summary of Soviet expansion into Budapest, Prague, Kabul, and Warsaw, is named after the "flying universities" of Poland (late-19th century underground education networks) resumed in the late-’70s just prior to the Solidarity movement. Immigrants reveal their names, point to a map showing where they lived in Poland, describe their trade, and trace the routes they took to Belgium. The Dardennes highlight the work of farmer and peasant unions, teachers, and families in a straightforward, unembellished manner: one whole segment features a family’s spontaneous critiques of a Warsaw propaganda broadcast emanating from a radio on their kitchen table.