Ashes and Diamonds

There are so many great things about how this movie is made - the directing, the shots, the tonal quality, and the pacing. Probably most brilliant of all is how the total makes the viewer feel claustophobic. I admit, though, it's a tad dated.

There are so many great things about how this movie is made - the directing, the shots, the tonal quality, and the pacing. Probably most brilliant of all is how the total makes the viewer feel claustrophobic. I admit, though, it's a tad dated.

You might have thought that on May 8th, 1945 the population of Poland would have been united in celebrating the defeat of their Nazi invaders. Instead, though, this film quite deftly illustrates a mixture of joy and trepidation as those who had fought together to free their country now found themselves on opposite sides of a new societal order that was going to pit the freedom-loving Poles on one side with those more Soviet-minded Communists on the other. This polarity is epitomised by "Maciek" (Zbigniew Cybulski) and "Andrzej" (Adam Pawlikowski) who are charged with getting shot - literally…

My first Wajda and I really enjoyed it. I thought that Cybulski's performance was great and I loved the scene in the pub where he's lighting vodka shots, which he plays perfectly. The shots of him through the patterned staircase looked amazing in black and white, and especially because of his sunglasses. I did get a bit lost in the politics side of the plot but despite that I didn't get bored and I really liked the romance plot line and the sequence with the drunk secretary. I thought the blood coming through the sheet at the end was a really strong image and the final shot of him running…