Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Turfseer If Marty Scorsese tells you that 'Ashes and Diamonds' is one of his favorite movies, it's likely that many will accept his viewpoint without a critical eye (that is the power of the influential American auteur, Mr. Scorsese). Of course it's easy to understand why Scorsese is enamored with the film, mainly due to the 'Citizen Kane-like' cinematography and all those brilliant little 'cinematic' moments (such as the film's iconic ending where anti-hero Maciek is shot and ends up in the fetal position, on a trash heap). But despite the cinematic style that Mr. Scorsese so adores, one cannot ignore the reality of the time in which the film was made and the compromises director Andrzej Wajda was forced to make.Ashes and Diamonds was released in 1958 and the English translation version in 1962. Poland of course was under the thumb of the Soviets and to give director Wadja the benefit of the doubt, he was in no position to make a film that was critical of the Communists who were ruling Poland at the time. Thus, Szczuka, the Commissar who returns to Poland on VE day (May 8, 1945) and who is the subject of an assassination attempt by Home Army operatives at the beginning of the film, must be depicted as a wholly sympathetic figure who has the best interests of the Polish people at heart. Szczuka is also a tragic figure, who, at the moment he's on his way to re-connect with his son (a captured Home Army sympathizer who was raised by an anti-Communist aunt), is unmercifully cut down by Maciek.What's missing here in this film is political context. Sure there may have been well-meaning 'patriots' such as Szczuka amongst the Communists but what about the dark side of Communist rule? The Polish Home Army was the largest resistance group against the Nazis during World War II. The group was officially disbanded even before the end of the war in January 1945. A deal was made for thousands of former Home Army soldiers to receive 'amnesty' by the Soviets, but instead, after they accepted the amnesty deal, they were rounded up and sent to Soviet gulags, many never to be seen or heard from again. None of this important information, makes its way into the film.Instead, Wadja, introduces a stock villain in the form of 'The Major' who was responsible for ordering the assassination of Szczuka, but instead finds himself responsible for the murder of two innocent factory workers. Both assassins, Maciek and Andrzej, appear to be trapped (in Wadja's view) by bad karma. Andrzej asks the Major whether it's really necessary to kill Szuzuka, but the Major won't entertain his question. And of course, Maciek, the brooding loner (modeled on James Dean), falls in love with a bar girl, but ultimately can't run away, and goes through with the murder of the kindly apparatchik.Most of the plot revolves around a banquet given for the local mayor in a hotel. While this is happening, the plot to kill Szczuka slowly materializes as the backgrounds of each of the prinicipals is introduced. While the sub-plot involving Szczuka's son is somewhat interesting, Wadja (due to the constrictions of the time) is not permitted a Szczuka counterpart—one who shows the dark side of Soviet influence. As previously mentioned, the Major is too Machiavellian, without showing any of the other side's good points. And despite their 'sensitivity', Maciek and Andrzej, end up as ruthless as their commanding officer.Perhaps Wadja's most interesting character is Drewnowski, the informant who loses his job in the mayor's office after becoming completely intoxicated. Drenowski perhaps represents the 'common man', tragically caught between the two warring factions in Polish society at the time, and unable to cope.Ashes and Diamonds may have represented some kind of breakthrough for Polish cinema at the time it was released. Here, opponents of the ruling Communist government, are treated with some sympathy, as victims of some kind of inevitable and hence, tragic karmic law. Nonetheless, Wadja must ultimately throw the opponents of the ruling regime, under the proverbial bus. A more nuanced and clearer picture of these opponents, would ultimately appear, following the fall of Communism. Scorcese is right in heaping accolades over Ashes and Diamond's style; but its 'substance' is decidedly dated: stuck in a time, when people had to continually self-censor thoughts and words which they wished to say.

tedsteinberg Almost every major scene was overdone, especially the death scenes - as a farce this was a reasonably good film, as a tragedy it's tragic. At times, I was laughing and wondering if Fellini had seen this parody of his approach to telling stories via cinema. I didn't read the book; I watched this film eagerly with no previously held opinion one way or the other I have a large collection of Criterion type films, and probably that's the reason I had never got around to watching Ashes & Diamonds. FWIW, I watched it alone because I wanted to "be in the tunnel" so to speak.From the beginning, there were no real surprises and it was apparent the director was going to be in a "do you get it?" mood. Much of the acting was either wooden or in a state of suppressed hysteria.As a chronicle of Poland's shock at not being victorious after years of hell, this film deserves high marks for it's depiction of Poles making the best of a hollow celebration. As a potential awakening for both the assassin and his intended victim, the film is entitled once again, to high marks. As a love story, much of it is well done.Then, what's the problem? Too many cross currents, many of which were just exercises in thrashing and flailing, and, for me, I was looking for something to chew on and digest as opposed to being shown overly long drawn out scenes of either silliness or despair; that's when it occurred to me I was not a member of the director's choir; after a round of expletives I calmed down and thought of Fellini's and Bergman's approaches to developing a story and wished they'd made this film.

Eumenides_0 I first discovered the enormity of the atrocities perpetrated by the Soviets in Poland through the non-fiction book The Captive Mind, by Polish author Czeslaw Milosz. One of the things that stuck with me was that the Polish resistance members who fought the Nazis were not seen as heroes by the Soviets, because those Poles were defending the old bourgeois order. So the old militaries and intelligentsia had to be killed to pave the way for a new state that upheld the values of the revolution.Andrzej Wajda captures this situation in Ashes and Diamonds, adapting a novel by Jerzy Andrzejewski, coincidentally one of the intellectuals Milosz devotes a chapter to and who served the revolution with a lot of faith and ardour. Still, this is not a propaganda movie; Wadja somehow managed to trick the censors into not seeing criticism against the way the Soviet Union betrayed the people who believe in its ideals.Actor Zbigniew Cybulski plays Maciek Chelmicki, a killer working for the communists, who receives orders to kill Szczuka, a Communist leader. Although Maciek always found killing easy in the past, now he has to kill a former soldier and one of the many who believes in the Soviet Union. Furthermore, after falling in love with a barmaid, he realises that his life is a cycle of violence and that he wants to put an end to it. What follows is a night of self-discovery for the young killer.Although I wanted to like this movie more, a disjointed and often confusing narrative construction threw me off at several points. Cybulski is perfect as the killer, though, initially relaxed and thorough, then as the night progresses he becomes introspective and melancholic. I also loved the cinematography, especially the games between light and shadow. My favourite sequence was the murder of Szczuka. As he falls in Maciek's arms fireworks ignite in the sky celebrating the end of war; Maciek runs away leaving the body by a puddle, the fireworks reflecting in the water. His personal crisis and the celebration of an entire country come together and we know the future won't bode well for either.In free countries like Italy and France cinema revered communism. Movies like Novecento sound awfully dated nowadays. In countries where communism existed under no guises, their movies have remained timeless. This is not just a condemnation of one of the most oppressive totalitarian regimes that ever existed, but a depiction of human nature wherever ideals overthrow respect for life and dignity. Fifty-one years later, Ashes and Diamonds remains modern.

thetrev This film shows an alternative lost youth to that of 1950's America. In the late 1940's and early 1950's some of Poland's teenagers were involved in a life and death struggle against the Soviet and Communist Polish authorities. these young people had been raised in the bloodshed of WWII and had learned to fight and die.The film shows the lost youth of Poland struggling to find a way to leave this vicious upbringing and return to a normality which they often didn't ever have.The film's hero wants to return to being a student and having romances and friends after years of fighting for the Polish underground (this is why he wears sunglasses, because his eyesight was damaged fighting in tunnels during the Warsaw Uprising), however he has a mission to kill a communist officer...The film is amazing, the imagery reflects the detruction and sorrow of this lost generation. The direction and acting are superb. Like a previous poster, however, I was a little dis-satisfied with the ending, which differed from the book. That is a trivial point, though.