POPIÓL I DIAMENT

Poland, 1958

Feature Film

Maciek Chełmicki, a young Home Army soldier receives an order to shoot the secretary of the Polish Workers’ party on the eve of the end of World War II. At the same time, he meets Krystyna, a bartender at the hotel. Torn between duty and a nascent feeling, he will have to make a choice. The victory banquet takes place that night. The morning will turn out to be tragic for the protagonist. Andrzej Wajda's film went down in the history of Polish culture and world cinema as an iconic film of the Polish School and a symbol of national cinematography. Despite the fact that it was an adaptation of Jerzy Andrzejewski's novel titled “Zaraz po wojnie” (1947), approved by the Polish People's Government, Wajda did not fulfill the order of the authorities, as he shifted the affection from the old communist activist to the young Home Army soldier, emphasizing the tragedy of his fate. What's more, Wajda completely abandoned the aesthetics of socialist realism in favour of new aesthetics of image, a new way of acting, and ambiguous moral evaluation of the protagonist.

Director: Andrzej Wajda
Screenplay: Andrzej Wajda , Jerzy Andrzejewski
DOP: Jerzy Wójcik
Editing: Halina Nawrocka
Sound: Bohdan Bieńkowski
Original Score: Filip Nowak
Production Design: Roman Mann
Costume designer: Katarzyna Chodorowicz
Make up: Halina Sieńska
Main Cast: Zbigniew Cybulski (Maciek Chełmicki), Ewa Krzyżewska (Krystyna), Wacław Zastrzeżyński (Szczuka)