Masterpieces of Polish Cinema - Ashes and Diamonds

A masterpiece from the golden age of world cinema, Andrzej Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds is set on the last day of World War II and the first day of peace – and between them, a night that changes everything. The film is largely seen through the eyes of Maciek (Zbigniew Cybulski, the so-called James Dean of Poland, in a career-defining performance), a young resistance soldier who begins the film by botching an assassination attempt. In a few hours dawn will end the Nazi slavery of the country, but also will bring a new communist regime to Poland. And Maciek still hasn’t hit his target: a villainous commissar. This is not the independence the idealistic young man and his brothers in arms have been fighting and dying for. Should Maciek continue his combat when he wants so badly to live a normal, peaceful life?

1958, 104 minutes, black and white, DCP | Written by Andrzej Wajda, Jerzy Andrzejewski, based on the novel by Jerzy Andrzejewski; directed by Andrzej Wajda; with Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyzewska, Adam Pawlikowski, Waclaw Zastrzezynski, Bogumil Kobiela, Jan Ciecierski, Stanislaw Milski.