Directed by:
Andrzej WajdaCinematography:
Jerzy WójcikCast:
Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyżewska, Wacław Zastrzeżyński, Adam Pawlikowski, Bogumił Kobiela, Jan Ciecierski, Stanislaw Milski, Artur Mlodnicki (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
The entire film takes place on 8 May 1945, when the war in Europe ended with Germany's formal surrender – but while other countries celebrated, Poland's postwar power struggle was only just beginning. In depicting the various factions jockeying for position, including ambitious Communists, aristocratic patriots, cynical journalists and anti-Nazi rebels recently emerged from the Warsaw sewers, Wajda brilliantly anatomises a riven country desperately trying to find its identity at a time when a fifth of its population had recently been killed and many more driven into exile. Maciek Chelmicki (Zbigniew Cybulski) embodies this conflict: outwardly a calculating assassin, his ultra-cool façade begins to crack when he badly botches a mission, falls in love with the barmaid Krystyna (Ewa Krzyzewska) and dares to dream of a life outside the armed resistance that's characterised his entire adult life. (Arrow Films)
(more)Cast
Zbigniew Cybulski
Poland
Best movies:
The Saragossa Manuscript (1964)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Love at Twenty (1962)
Ewa Krzyżewska
Poland
Best movies:
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
The Bells Toll for the Barefooted (1965)
Pharaoh (1965)
Wacław Zastrzeżyński
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Adam Pawlikowski
Poland
Best movies:
The Saragossa Manuscript (1964)
Canal (1957)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Bogumił Kobiela
Poland
Best movies:
The Saragossa Manuscript (1964)
Eroica (1957)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Jan Ciecierski
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
The Conductor (1980)
Provincial Actors (1979)
Stanislaw Milski
Poland
Best movies:
The Noose (1957)
Birth Certificate (1961)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Artur Mlodnicki
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
The Saragossa Manuscript (1964)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
The Last Stop (1948)
Halina Kwiatkowska
Poland
Best movies:
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
And Along Come Tourists (2007)
Ignacy Machowski
Poland
Best movies:
The Noose (1957)
Eroica (1957)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Zbigniew Skowroński
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Wsród nocnej ciszy (1978)
Birth Certificate (1961)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Barbara Krafftówna
Poland
Best movies:
The Saragossa Manuscript (1964)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Nobody's Calling (1960)
Aleksander Sewruk
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Night Train (1959)
Giuseppe in Warsaw (1964)
Zofia Czerwińska
Poland
Best movies:
The Pianist (2002)
Con amore (1976)
Eroica (1957)
Irena Orzecka
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Tadeusz Kalinowski
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
The Noose (1957)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Black Cross (1960)
Wiktor Grotowicz
Poland
Best movies:
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Colonel Wolodyjowski (1969)
Giuseppe in Warsaw (1964)
Mieczyslaw Loza
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Wsród nocnej ciszy (1978)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
How I Unleashed World War II (1970)
Ferdynand Matysik
Poland
Best movies:
Potop (1974)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Cuckoo in a Dark Forest (1984)
Adolf Chronicki
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
The Noose (1957)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
How I Unleashed World War II (1970)