Andrzej Wajda

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moira finnie
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Re: Andrzej Wajda

Post by moira finnie »

King, I have seen parts of Kanal on TCM and found it intriguing.

I have recently discovered that there is a person on youtube, found here, who is uploading several of Andrzej Wajda's hard-to-find films, including Lotna (1959), which tells the story of the Second World War from the viewpoint of a beautiful mare who is symbolic of Polish traditional culture. I understand that Wajda regarded this beautiful story as a failure. Btw, Man of Iron is streaming online at Netflix but doesn't appear to be on DVD through that venue.

I have no idea how to pronounce Wajda's first name, though I have a friend who speaks fluent Polish and will ask him next time I speak with him.
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Re: Andrzej Wajda

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I think his name is pronounced "Andre."

I'm so glad someone started this thread, because I think Wajda is a superb director and very underrated. People in America, if they know of him, only know him for the War trilogy. "Kanal" is my favorite film of those three, but he has done marvelous stuff in later years.

"Ashes" is a film from the mid-Sixties based on a massive 19th Century Polish novel set in the Napoleonic Wars. It has some of the best battle scenes I have ever seen in a film. I'd bet money that the makers of "Glory" saw this film before they staged the last battle in that movie.

"Landscape After Battle" (1970) is about concentration camp survivors in the immediate aftermath of WWII. Very powerful and one of Wajda's best.

"Man of Marble" (1976) is great. It demolishes 'socialist realism.' Calling it "the Polish 'Citizen Kane' " sort of makes it sound like a joke, but I think it is comparable to Kane.

"Promised Land" (late Seventies) is a splendid film about the industrialization of Poland in the 19th Century. A terrific historical film that makes the past come alive. Supposedly Bergman was influenced by it for "Fanny and Alexander."

"Revenge" (2002) is based on a classic 18th Century Polish comedy. (I know nothing of Polish literature. what I know is from reading about Wajda's films.) Wajda porves very skilled with comedy, which is stunning considering how grim some of his other films are.
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Re: Andrzej Wajda

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I just watched Ashes and Diamonds today. Your evaluation was terrific, king, and yes, that squeaky door on the cabinet that kept opening inconveniently was a nice aural and visual simile for the past, I thought.

My favorite moment: The white horse, symbol of chivalry, fertility and freedom wandering into the courtyard of the hotel looking lost in this grey world.

Maciek was such a lost, hipster soul, formed by war, unable to ever really be at peace. My only quibble was that I wanted more about Szczuka, the Communist whose nemesis was Maciek. He was an intriguing character as he looked for his lost son in between observing the rapidly evolving post-war Poland.
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Re: Andrzej Wajda

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As for the making of "Ashes and Diamonds," Poland had a lot of anti-Communist unrest in 1956, nearly going to full scale revolution (as happened in Hungary). That was forestalled by putting Wladislaw Gomulka (a Communist who had fallen afoul of Stalin in the late forties and sent to prison) in as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Poland. This opened a brief period of liberalization for Poland, which ended around 1960 or so. "Ashes and Diamonds" was one of the films that took advantage of this brief Polish thaw. "Bad Luck" by Andrzej Munk was another.
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Re: Andrzej Wajda

Post by moira finnie »

MikeBSG wrote:As for the making of "Ashes and Diamonds," Poland had a lot of anti-Communist unrest in 1956, nearly going to full scale revolution (as happened in Hungary). That was forestalled by putting Wladislaw Gomulka (a Communist who had fallen afoul of Stalin in the late forties and sent to prison) in as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Poland. This opened a brief period of liberalization for Poland, which ended around 1960 or so. "Ashes and Diamonds" was one of the films that took advantage of this brief Polish thaw. "Bad Luck" by Andrzej Munk was another.
I was very interested in the history too. I suspected that Wajda's ability to get the ambiguous Ashes and Diamonds made might have occurred during the period of Kruschev's "Spring Thaw" in 1956 when he publicly separated himself from the excesses of Stalinism and allowed (for a time) a bit more expression into the arts and letters--though the back story of the film's history, much of which was relayed on the Criterion site, sounds like a plot from John le Carré.
kingrat wrote:Moira, I hadn't thought of the cabinet door as representing the past coming open at inopportune moments, but that's exactly how it works. I love the white horse, too.
I am watching a few scenes of Lotna (1959) each day on youtube, and have since learned that Wajda's father was in the Polish Cavalry and was among those killed during the Blitzkrieg invasion of Poland, so the horse probably meant something even deeper to the director. I was quite taken with the audacious use of cultural and religious allusions in Ashes and Diamonds. Most directors would be leery of symbolism such as Wajda uses, but it makes his movies more engrossing. I found the upside down Christ hanging from the Cross in the ruins of the Church as the young lovers tried to stay connected for a few more moments to be very touching.
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Re: Andrzej Wajda

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A few years ago, Wajda made "Katyn," about the Polish officers who were taken prisoner by the Soviet Union in 1939 (The Soviets invaded Poland on Sept. 17, 1939) and were shot in the spring of 1940. I think it was said that Wajda's father was one of those shot by the Soviets at Katyn.
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Re: Andrzej Wajda

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Today I watched Wajda's "Innocent Sorcerers" (1960).

Before today, I never would have imagined calling a Wajda film sweet and romantic, but "Innocent Sorcerers" took me by surprise.

It is about a young doctor who is something of a lothario. By chance, he meets a woman who isn't swept off her feet by his charms, and over the course of an evening, they open up to each other and talk about serious issues, coming to recognize each other as human beings (as opposed to just conquests.)

I had to think of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" as I watched this film. As I recall, the main male character there was a doctor who was a lothario. "Innocent Sorcerers" is confined to a 24 hour period (more or less), which is a difference and (rare in Wajda's work) there is a great deal of hope in this film. It is not a socialist realism hope by any stretch of the imagination, but there is a sense that things will work out for the best for the doctor and this woman.

Roman Polanski has a tiny role as a musician in the jazz combo the doctor belongs to.

"Innocent Sorcerers" is definitely worth a look for those who associate Wajda only with heavy historical subject matter.
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