I have seen this film several times and often I asked myself how the director Andrzej Wajda was allowed to film something that clearly shows the corruption of the new governing bodies in post-war Poland. This is a film of 1958, i.e. Poland well occupied by the Soviet troops and only 2 years after the Hungarian massacre. The acting of already disappeared Zbigniew Cybulski as Maciek is really impressive and reminds me to some extent James Dean playing "Rebel without a Cause". The personality of Maciek is difficult to understand if one ignores the suffering of Polish people during the war. Once this bloody confrontation finishes the Soviet came over and put their loyal people in the important posts of the government. The fact is that those soviet loyalists were not the appropriate ones, often corrupted and looking to climb for better position. The presence of the Soviet officers in the official parties and ceremonies was very common and this can also be well seen. Ewa Krzyzewska plays the role of a young lady working in a restaurant,she wants to live and to love, but even her dreams cannot become a reality. The film draws what was then wrong in Poland and how wrong the people felt and behave. Maciek is used by an anticommunist violent movement, in fact he wants to live differently, to stop fighting, to live and to love too. This film is really one of the classic of the filmography of Eastern Europe under the domination of the Soviets.
Review of Ashes and Diamonds
