A major figure in the world of post-World War II Eastern European cinema, Polish director Andrzej Wajda has chronicled his country's political and social evolution with sensitivity, fervor, and a refusal to make compromises in dealing with his difficult subjects. Once dubbed a symbol for his besieged country, Wajda has repeatedly drawn from Poland's history to suit his tragic sensibility, crafting an oeuvre of work that devastates even as it informs. (Hal Erickson)
This 4-DVD set includes four movies:
Kanal (Canal), 1957
Popiól i diament (Ashes and diamonds), 1959
Lotna (Speed), 1959
Wesele (Wedding), 1973
Andrzej Wajda Master Collection (4-DVD's)
Studio: Best Film Co Number of disks: 4 Condition: Brand New, Sealed, Mint Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 Format: 16:9 / 4:3 Total time: 385 minutes Language version: Polish Subtitles: English Region: 2 (PAL). European or multi-system DVD player is required to see this DVD.
A major figure in the world of post-World War II Eastern European cinema, Polish director Andrzej Wajda has chronicled his country's political and social evolution with sensitivity, fervor, and a refusal to make compromises in dealing with his difficult subjects. Once dubbed a symbol for his besieged country, Wajda has repeatedly drawn from Poland's history to suit his tragic sensibility, crafting an oeuvre of work that devastates even as it informs. (Hal Erickson)
This 4-DVD set includes four movies:
Kanal (Canal), 1957
Popiól i diament (Ashes and diamonds), 1959
Lotna (Speed), 1959
Wesele (Wedding), 1973
DVD 1
Kanal (Canal), directed by Andrzej Wajda, 1957
Plot: A symbolic depiction of hell on Earth, set in the last days of the Warsaw uprising in 1944. Lieutenant Zadra is commanding a company of 43 men in a desperate battle amidst the ruins. Facing German offense and cut off from their comrades, Zadra is commanded to retreat his men through the sewer system ('kanal'). Zadra and his men are reluctant to do so, as it would indicate that they have lost the battle, but decide to obey the orders. However, as the men (and women) retreat, it becomes clear that their desperate attempt to flee from the hell of battle will result only in more death and suffering...
Cast: Teresa Izewska, Tadeusz Janczar, Wienczysław Glinski, Tadeusz Gwiazdowski, Stanisław Mikulski, Emil Karewicz
DVD 2
Popiól i diament (Ashes and Diamonds), directed by Andrzej Wajda, 1959
Plot: Maciek, a young Resistance fighter, is ordered to kill Szczuka, a Communist district leader, on the last day of World War II. Though killing has been easy for him in the past, Szczuka was a fellow soldier, and Maciek must decide whether to follow his orders.
Cast: Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyzewska, Wacław Zastrzezynski, Adam Pawlikowski, Bogumil Kobiela
DVD 3
Lotna (Speed), directed by Andrzej Wajda, 1959
Plot: Poland, during the World War. Lotna is a magnificent specimen of Arabian horse, the pride of her owner, too old to actually ride her but to whom she remains faithful nevertheless. The Polish cavalry army is also proud of their land, and loyal to rules, and custom. The German army is leading an overwhelming speed attack with tanks, an almost unheard of weapon, and bringing a way of life to an end. It's the last battle between Lotna (speed horse) and Blitzkriega (speed war).
Cast: Jerzy Pichelski, Adam Pawlikowski, Jerzy Moes, Mieczyslaw Loza
DVD 4
Wesele (Wedding), directed by Andrzej Wajda, 1973
Plot: Psychedelic hallucinatory epic based on Stanislaw Wyspianski play - one of the most important plays in history of Polish literature. Set at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the story concerns a Polish poet living in Cracow who has decided to marry a peasant girl. The wedding is attended by a heterogeneous group of people from all strata of Polish society, who dance, get drunk and lament Poland's 100-year-long division of Poland under Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The bridegroom, a painter friend, and a journalist each in turn is confronted with specters of Polish past. In the end a call to arms is called but turns out to be a hoax.
Cast: Daniel Olbrychski, Ewa Zietek, Andrzej Lapicki, Wojciech Pszoniak
Bio:
Andrzej Wajda was born on March 6, 1926, in Suwalki, Poland. He described his childhood as a happy pastoral country life before the Second World War. His father, named Jakub Wajda, was captain in the Polish infantry and died at Katyn massacre in 1939. His mother, named Aniela Wajda, was a teacher at a Ukrainian school.
Young Wajda survived the Second World War with his mother and his brother in the Nazi-occupied Poland. In 1946 he moved to Krakow. There Wajda went to the Academy of Fine Arts. He studied painting, particularly the impressionist and post-impressionist painting, and was especially fond of Paul Cezanne. From 1950-1954 he studied film directing at High Film School in Lodz under directors Jerzy Toeplitz and Aleksander Ford. Wajda himself described the influential and eye-opening experience from seeing the French avant-garde films, like Ballet mécanique (1924) by artist-director Fernand Léger.
In 1955 he made his debut as director of a full-length Pokolenie (1955), about a generation of youth coming out of age during the Nazi occupation of Poland. His award-winning Kanal (1957) and Popiól i diament (1958) concluded the trilogy about life in Poland during WWII. Although he was under pressure from the Soviet-dominated Polish authorities, Wajda positioned himself as an artist who was above the conflict. He still managed to show the undeclared civil war between the Polish communists and the partisans folk heroes of the Home Army, the two anti-Nazi Polish forces, which were divided by political ideology.
His Oscar-nominated Ziemia obiecana (1975) was a work of multi-layered allegory and Symbolism. Wajda's witty depiction of the 19th century capitalism in Poland actually alluded to the contemporary Communist politics. The shooting of workers in the final scenes was actually demasking of the official politics of killing workers in the Soviet Union in 1962, under Nikita Khrushchev, and in Poland a few years later. The story of a film student who traces the life of defamed "hero" in Czlowiek z marmuru (1977) was a deconstruction of the false impressions that official propaganda was using to brainwash the public. The same main characters in Czlowiek z zelaza (1981) continued unmasking the Communist regime's manipulations against the "Solidarity" labor movement of Lech Walesa.
From 1989-1991 Wajda was elected Senator of the republic of Poland. From 1992-1994 he was Member of Presidential Council for Culture. In 1994 he founded the Center of Japanese Art and Technology in Krakow, and was awarded the Order of Rising Sun in Japan (1995). Wajda was President of Polish Film Assoiation (1978-1983). He was Member of "Solidarity" Lech Walesa Council (1981-1989). He won an honorary Oscar (2000) for his contribution to cinema, and an honorary Golden Bear (2006) at the Berlin Film Festival.
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