Ashes and Diamonds (1958)

Original title

Popiół i diament

Directed by

Andrzej Wajda

Genre

drama film, war film

Country

Poland

Runtime

1h 37m

Rated

16

Rating

7.4 of 10 from 283 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

In 1945 Poland, a former Home Army soldier named Maciek Chełmicki is ordered to assassinate a communist party official. As he carries out his mission, he begins to question whether killing is worth the cost.

tensemelancholicbleakatmosphericcontemplativeslow-burnvisceralsuspenseful

What happens

Ashes and Diamonds (Polish: Popiół i diament) is a 1958 Polish drama film directed by Andrzej Wajda, based on the 1948 novel by Polish writer Jerzy Andrzejewski. Starring Zbigniew Cybulski and Ewa Krzyżewska, it completed Wajda's war films trilogy, following A Generation (1954) and Kanal (1956). The action of Ashes and Diamonds takes place in 1945, shortly after World War II. The main protagonist of the film, former Home Army soldier Maciek Chełmicki, is acting in the anti-Communist underground. Maciek receives an order to kill Szczuka, the local secretary of the Polish Workers' Party. Over time, Chełmicki increasingly doubts if his task is worth doing. Ashes and Diamonds, although based on the novel that directly supported the postwar Communist system in Poland, was subtly modified in comparison with the source material. Wajda sympathized with the soldiers of the Polish independence underground; thus, he devoted most of the attention to Chełmicki. During the three-month development of Ashes and Diamonds, the director made drastic changes to the baseline scenario, thanks to his assistant director Janusz Morgenstern, as well as Cybulski, who played the leading role. The film received permission from the authorities to be distributed only through Andrzejewski's intercession. The film did not receive permission to be screened at the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival. However, Ashes and Diamonds appeared at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI award. At first, Ashes and Diamonds met positive critical reception, both in Poland and worldwide. However, after the Revolutions of 1989, it was criticized for falsifying the collective memory of Polish partisans. Nevertheless, the film has maintained its reputation as one of the most famous Polish motion pictures in history. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• Dezerter (1958)
• Farewells (1958)
• Zamach (1959)
• Eroica (1958)
• Pigułki dla Aurelii (1958)
• Bikini Blue (2017)
• Córeczka (1965)
• Samson (1961)