Film Forum

Człowiek z żelaza
Poland, 1981
Directed by Andrzej Wajda
Starring Krystyna Janda, Jerzy Radziwiłowicz, Marian Opania
WINNER Cannes Film Festival – Palme d’Or, 1981
Approx. 152 mins.

Living history, the sequel to MAN OF MARBLE, made just as the shipyard strikes were unfolding, is its mirror image. Here, the protagonist, also a journalist, is corrupted by the government when he takes an assignment to find dirt that will discredit the strike leaders. Remarkable in its timeliness, MAN OF IRON features a cameo appearance by Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa. Filmed in January of 1981, it premiered months later at Cannes, where it won the Palme d’Or, on its way to becoming the top Polish box office hit of all time.

Presented with support from The Ashes and Diamonds Fund for Eastern European Film

Reviews

“MAN OF IRON is such an up-to-date report on political events in Poland that one attends to it less as a piece of fiction than as a prime-time television news special.”
– Vincent Canby, The New York Times

“Forged in a white heat, its structure molded by history, MAN OF IRON brings Wajda’s open-ended masterpiece, MAN OF MARBLE, to stunning, dialectical completion. Together, the films form a remarkable political epic, at once prophecy, intervention, and documentation.”
– J. Hobeman, The Village Voice

“Shot at the very epicentre of Solidarity’s activities and featuring an appearance by Lech Wałęsa, this brave, imaginative film became part of the political process it observed. After winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes, MAN OF IRON was banned at home and Wajda went into exile.”
 – Phillip French, The Observer (UK)