Ashes and Dimonds is the final part in director Andrzej Wajda's so-called "War Trilogy". The series, which chronicled the tragic experiences of ordinary Poles during the Second World War, began with Wajda's debut feature, A Generation (1955) and was followed by the Cannes prize-winning Kanal (1956), a harrowing depiction of the Warsaw uprisings. Ashes and Diamonds, however, is the most accomplished and complex of the three, and is often hailed as the greatest of all Polish films.

At its centre is the character of Maciek, one of the most memorable anti-heroes in post-war European cinema. Here is a figure who spoke to both the generation of Poles who fought and died during the war and the nation's increasingly rebellious youth in the late 1950s, when the film was released. The brilliance of this characterisation comes not only from the writing, but also from the acting of Zbigniew Cybulski, who is often referred to as Poland's answer to Marlon Brando or James Dean. His performance is a remarkably physical one and in his hands Maciek becomes an intelligent, sensitive and rebellious figure, a far cry from the simple proletarian heroes typical of Eastern Block Socialist Realist cinema, who obediently sacrifices themselves to the cause. This newfound complexity is representative of the so-called 'thaw', the period of de-Stalinisation which took effect in the late 1950s, and similarly conflicted, human characters can be seen in contemporary Soviet films of the time, such as Mikhail Kalatozov's The Cranes are Flying (1957) and Grigoriy Chukhray's Ballad of a Soldier (1959).

However, Ashes and Diamonds is never one sided and rather presents a remarkable even-handed portrait of a country divided against itself. Szczuka, the Communist official Mackek is ordered to assassinate is no one-dimensional Bolshevik. Rather, he is a decent, sympathetic man; a veteran of two wars who wishes only to be reunited with his son. When he eventually dies in the younger man's arms, the sound of gunfire ironically drowned out by the fireworks set off to mark the official beginning of peace, it is a moment of genuine tragedy.

Despite the film's care not to take sides, it proved controversial with hard-line critics and the authorities in Poland, who thought, not entirely incorrectly, that Wajda romanticised a protagonist who was a member of a renegade, anti-Communist organization. As a result, the state refused to allow the film to compete at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival and did not allow Wajda to the out-of-competition premiere that the Festival organized. Moreover, the director remembers that the film was only given a limited release in its native Poland. Nevertheless, the film was an international sensation and slowly became a national classic.

Ashes and Diamonds is a richly symbolic and at times darkly ironic masterpiece which should be in every cineaste's collection. The new edition from Arrow Films contains both a DVD and a Blu Ray disc. Both transfers offer a noticeable improvement on their previous DVD release, although the High Definition disc is particularly stunning and brings out the best in Jerzy Wójcik's cinematography, with its deep focus compositions, stark contrasts and nods to German Expressionism, Film Noir and, perhaps above all, Citizen Kane (which is not too grand a comparison to make). There is also a booklet, which reprints some fine critical appraisals of the film and a slightly rambling video introduction by the octogenarian director, which nevertheless puts the film into its proper historical and political context and is more than worth watching. Wajda is not only one of Poland's greatest filmmakers, he is perhaps its finest chronicler of Poland's turbulent history in the second half of the twentieth century and viewers would do well to check out some of his other films which are currently on DVD, such as A Generation; Kanal; the underrated Innocent Sorcerers; the Palm D'Or winning Man of Iron; and the more recent, Katyn, made in 2007, which details Stalin's execution of thousands of Polish soldiers and intellectuals in the early 1940, including Wajda's own father. Ashes and Diamonds, however, remains Wajda's masterpiece, and one of the richest and most moving works in all of European cinema.



Wajda is one of the finest directors ever to emerge from Europe and he has made more than his share of masterpieces: Kanal, Landscape After Battle, Man of Marble, Danton and even the more recent Katyn. However, for many, Ashes and Diamonds remains not only his, but also his country's greatest film; this new edition makes it all the more easy to understand why.