Ashes and Diamonds (1958)

Poland

Drama, War, Romance

Zespół Filmowy Kadr

Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyżewska, Wacław Zastrzeżynski, Adam Pawlikowski, Bogumił Kobiela, Jan Ciecierski

Andrzej Wajda

Jerzy Andrzejewski, Andrzej Wajda

Taglines: Touched with the fire and rebellion of a new generation of Polish film makers

polish resistance, soviet military, black and white, post war, post world war ii, post-war poland

A young academy soldier, Maciek Chelmicki, is ordered to shoot the secretary of the KW PPR. A coincidence causes him to kill someone else. Meeting face to face with his victim, he gets a shock. He faces the necessity of repeating the assassination. He meets Krystyna, a girl working as a barmaid in the restaurant of the "Monopol" hotel. His affection for her makes him even more aware of the senselessness of killing at the end of the war. Loyalty to the oath he took, and thus the obligation to obey the order, tips the scales.

Reviews:

Author: badelf
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.