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Regarded as one of the greatest of all Polish films from its premiere in October 1958, Andrzej Wajda's third feature Ashes and Diamonds retains that stature over half a century later.
The entire film takes place on 8 May 1945, when the war in Europe ended with Germany's formal surrender but while other countries celebrated, Poland's postwar power struggle was only just beginning. In depicting the various factions jockeying for position, including ambitious Communists, aristocratic patriots, cynical journalists and anti-Nazi rebels recently emerged from the Warsaw sewers, Wajda brilliantly anatomises a riven country desperately trying to find its identity at a time when a fifth of its population had recently been killed and many more driven into exile. Maciek Chelmicki (Zbigniew Cybulski) embodies this conflict: outwardly a calculating assassin, his ultra-cool façade begins to crack when he badly botches a mission, falls in love with the barmaid Krystyna (Ewa Krzyzewska) and dares to dream of a life outside the armed resistance that's characterised his entire adult life. His all too human indecision makes him Polish culture s Hamlet, and Cybulski's performance remains iconic to this day.
Arrow Academy presents Andrzej Wajda's masterpiece on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.
Special Features:
- High Definition Blu-ray and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the film
- New 2K resolution restoration of the film image and sound transferred from 35mm
- Interview with director Andrzej Wajda on Ashes & Diamonds
- Comprehensive booklet by writer and film historian Michael Brooke, including new writing on the film, a re-print of Marek Hendrykowsk s monograph on Ashes & Diamonds , Andrzej Wajda s lecture on Cinema Past and Present and more!
- Artwork presentation packaging including three original posters and a newly commissioned artwork cover
- Arrow Video
- Andrzej Wajda
- 12
- Zbigniew Cybulski
- 1958
- Polish
- 2
- B
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4 instalments of £5.74 with clearpay Learn more
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Regarded as one of the greatest of all Polish films from its premiere in October 1958, Andrzej Wajda's third feature Ashes and Diamonds retains that stature over half a century later.
The entire film takes place on 8 May 1945, when the war in Europe ended with Germany's formal surrender but while other countries celebrated, Poland's postwar power struggle was only just beginning. In depicting the various factions jockeying for position, including ambitious Communists, aristocratic patriots, cynical journalists and anti-Nazi rebels recently emerged from the Warsaw sewers, Wajda brilliantly anatomises a riven country desperately trying to find its identity at a time when a fifth of its population had recently been killed and many more driven into exile. Maciek Chelmicki (Zbigniew Cybulski) embodies this conflict: outwardly a calculating assassin, his ultra-cool façade begins to crack when he badly botches a mission, falls in love with the barmaid Krystyna (Ewa Krzyzewska) and dares to dream of a life outside the armed resistance that's characterised his entire adult life. His all too human indecision makes him Polish culture s Hamlet, and Cybulski's performance remains iconic to this day.
Arrow Academy presents Andrzej Wajda's masterpiece on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.
Special Features:
- High Definition Blu-ray and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the film
- New 2K resolution restoration of the film image and sound transferred from 35mm
- Interview with director Andrzej Wajda on Ashes & Diamonds
- Comprehensive booklet by writer and film historian Michael Brooke, including new writing on the film, a re-print of Marek Hendrykowsk s monograph on Ashes & Diamonds , Andrzej Wajda s lecture on Cinema Past and Present and more!
- Artwork presentation packaging including three original posters and a newly commissioned artwork cover
- Arrow Video
- Andrzej Wajda
- 12
- Zbigniew Cybulski
- 1958
- Polish
- 2
- B
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Customer reviews are independent and do not represent the views of Zavvi.
Perhaps Still the Greatest Polish Film
The action of Ashes and Diamonds takes place over the course of a single far from ordinary day: the 8th of May 1945, the final day of the Second World War. However, for Andrzej and Maciek, two soldiers in the Polish Home Army, who have been ordered to assassinate a leading Communist official, the hostilities are not over. As the pair wait for their target in a busy hotel, Maciek, who has seen too much killing, falls for a beautiful young barmaid and begins to long for a normal life. Played by the brilliant thirty-year-old actor, Zbigniew Cybulski, Polands answer to Marlon Brando and James Dean, Maciek is one of the great tragic heroes in post-war European cinema; a figure who spoke to both the Poles who fought (and died) during the war and the nations increasingly rebellious youth in the late 1950s, when the film was released. At the same time, in this remarkably complex portrait of a country divided against itself, Wajda extends an equal compassion to Szczuka, the target of the assassination attempt. He is a decent, sympathetic man; a veteran of two wars who wishes only to be reunited with his son, who is now a POW. For all its moment of tenderness and humour, the keynote of Ashes and Diamonds is one of bitter, even savage irony. This is evidenced in the assassination scene in which Szczka dies in his killers arms, the sound of gunfire drowned out by the fireworks set off to mark the official beginning of peace; or the remarkable finale, as Maciek staggers badly wounded through the city dump. Arrow Films previously released Ashes and Diamonds in a box set alongside Wajdas two earlier features, A Generation (1955) and Kanal (1956), which are often collectively described as the directors War Trilogy. Arrows new dual-format edition offers an improvement on that previous release and is a must-have for any serious cineaste. This is a stunning transfer, with well translated, easy to read subtitles. The blu-ray disc in particular brings out the best in the films moody black and white photography, expressionist sets and Wajdas strikingly baroque compositions. An informative booklet and a video introduction by the director, now well into his 80s, help put the film into it proper historical and political context and explain its battles with the censors and its continuing place at the centre of Polish film culture. Wajda is one of the finest directors ever to emerge from Europe and he has made more than his share of masterpieces: Kanal, Landscape After Battle, Man of Marble, Danton and even the more recent Katyn. However, for many, Ashes and Diamonds remains not only his, but also his countrys greatest film; this new edition makes it all the more easy to understand why.
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