Slideshow
A GENERATION
Pokolenie
Poland, 1955
Directed by Andrzej Wajda
Starring Tadeusz Łomnicki, Urszula Modrzyńska, Tadeusz Janczar
Approx. 87 mins.
Breaking free from the rigid aesthetics of Stalin-mandated socialist realism, Wajda introduced a dynamic, morally complex new approach to filmmaking that reflected the experiences of a young generation shaped by the war. In his bold debut film, the first in his “War Trilogy,” Wajda dramatized the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising with an expressionistic style that evokes American film noir. A delinquent teen who heroically joins the Resistance—partly inspired by his love for one of the movement’s leaders—is the ostensible protagonist, but the more fascinating character is the reluctant and tortured Jasio (Tadeusz Łomnicki). One critic wrote, “It’s a fair guess that the inner world to which Wajda personally felt most attuned was that of Jasio Krone—edgy, troubled, bewildered, switching from one extreme to the other.”
Presented with support from The Ashes and Diamonds Fund for Eastern European Film, The Ada Katz Fund for Literature in Film, and The Joan S. Constantiner Fund for Jewish and Holocaust Films, donated by Leon Constantiner and Family
Reviews
“A film of tremendous importance. The whole Polish cinema began with it.”
– Roman Polański
“At last real life has been glimpsed on screen rather than stale pap.”
– Antoni Bohdziewicz