Pokolenie

"A GENERATION is about awakening, our protagonist Stach (Lomnicki), a young apprentice of a furniture shop in Warsaw, gets politicized and involved in an underground communist resistance movement fighting Germans, witnesses war-time cruelty at first hand and experiencing camaraderie, romantic tingling and loss in quick succession, everything is fugacious and the growing pains never relent, the final juxtaposition of Stach's tearful face and the smiles of a bunch of fresh-faced new recruits is pregnant with poignancy."

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Hard not to view this film with the benefit of hindsight when - for example - the final image, of faces almost tangibly seeing the light of a new tomorrow, is apparently so straightforwardly propagandistic; scenes such as that in which the older workman talks reverently about the promise of Karl Marx now seem at best quaint. That's probably not an entirely fair prism through which to consider the film, but the theme of anti-Nazi resistance obviously becomes less stirring when one considers the limitations of what's being put forward as the alternative. Furthermore, although the movie's gritty, shadowy pace generally makes for entertaining viewing, there's a fairly consistent series of images which seem to push too hard - the heart-shaped photo slot at the fair through which we watch as she steps away from him; the Hitchcock-like fall through the well of the spiral staircase. The movie's pace and concentrated immersion in its time and place makes it engrossing, and the earnestness and deprivation are still touching, but it's surely no longer the viewing experience it once was.

"A Generation" (Polish, 1954): This is the first of a war trilogy by Andrzej Wajda. Photographed in rich black & white, "A Generation" is about the youth of Poland, who joined underground rebellions against the Nazis. They formed small "cells" (sound familiar?) of fighters, used pseudonyms, and seldom met with larger groups – for the sake of secrecy and safety. The photography is wonderful (the long opening scene is alone worth the price of admission), the acting is great to average (with a TEENAGED Roman Polanski in one of the supporting roles!), and the dialog gives insight into kids who must grow up overnight and become not merely premature adults, but calculating killers. Made less than a decade after the war, this film depicts the serious, accurate, and even on extremely rare occasion, lighthearted moments that made up their lives. "Kanal" (1957), and "Ashes & Diamonds" (1958) follow.

I really enjoyed this movie. It tells the story of three young men who join the Polish Resistance to fight the Germans in the Second World War. The interesting aspect of the movie is the exploration of the motivations of each of the men in deciding to fight the Germans. These men do not appear to all be motivated by patriotism but rather a variety of different motivations. The main character seems to be motivated by his attraction to the female leader of the Communist resistance, while the character played by Roman Polanski seems to be involved because he is looking for excitement. Finally, the Jasio character does not seem to have any idea why he is involved at all.

This is a very gritty and realistic movie, which was apparently made to celebrate the anniversary of the Communist Party in Poland. It is interesting how the director, Andrzej Wajda, didn't quite make the movie which the Party had hoped he would make.

On the DVD edition I watched there was an extended interview with Andrzej Wajda which is also very worthwhile. He explains how he did not really know what he was doing when he made A Generation and that the final product was not really what he had been asked to make. After some delay the Party did agree to release the movie.

The movie that made Andrzej Wajda famous depicts a group of people in Poland's resistance during WWII. In one scene, the movie's protagonist Stach (Tadeusz Łomnicki) learns about Marxism from another man. It's clear that this speech is directed not only at the Nazi occupation, but also at the Soviet occupation. A scene towards the end of "Pokolenie" ("A Generation" in English) reminded me of Agnieszka Holland's "In Darkness", which was recently a nominee for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.

As for what I thought of Andrzej Wajda's feature debut. I earlier saw Wajda's "Popiół i diament" ("Ashes and Diamonds" in English). From what I understand about the themes that Wajda depicted in that one, it sounded like what we might call the perfect Polish movie. "A Generation" is also really good, although I did find "Ashes and Diamonds" to be a little better. In an interview, Wajda noted that the title refers to his generation: the leaders of Poland's pre-war film industry had fled the country, and so his generation was essentially starting it from scratch.

All in all, a very good movie. Watch for a young Roman Polanski as one of Stach's compatriots.