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"Today
more than ever, we need a sense of identity to know where we come
from and where we are going," is how Andrzej Wajda explains the
astonishing renaissance of historical epics in his homeland. His
stunning screen fresco takes us back to Poland in 1811, when Napoleon's
Russian campaign stirred hopes of liberation and reunification.
Adam
Mickiewicz's famous poem, written while in exile in Paris, put
into words his outrage about his countrymen's small-minded feuding.
Wajda basically sticks to the text, as it has everything a true
national epic has to offer pride, passion, war, exile,
homesickness.
Boguslaw
Linda (Poland's answer to Bruce Willis) and Daniel Olbrychski
are the fascinating protagonists. Wajda regular Olbrychski
raves that Wajda "captured the beating of the Polish heart".
Such
patriotism must be contagious. When Wajda showed the film
to his famous compatriot in the Vatican, he was so moved
that he could not hold back the tears.
Gerhard
Midding
Portrait:
Andrzej Wajda
 For
more than 40 years, Andrzej Wajda's movies have been exploring
the soul of the Polish nation, his native land. His latest movie,
hugely successful in Poland, is no exception to the rule. Andrzej
Wajda was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Oscar in March 2000.
The son of a cavalry officer, Andzrej Wajda spent his youth in
a cavalry barracks, from which stems his romantic, idealistic
and patriotic sensitivity, as well as his fascination for horses.
After WWII, which took the life of his father and sent him into
the resistance at the age of 16, he became a mere worker, before
his passion for drawing and painting sent him to the Cracow Academy
of Fine Arts.
He left the academy in 1950 and enrolled at the famous Lodz Flm
School. From these educational years, he retained the importance
of painting, literature and music in cinema and it is no wonder
that the lyricism and atmospheric virtuosity of his films shows
such loving obedience.
His 3 first movies form a kind of trilogy about the aftermath
of war, seen through tragic individual fates. Andrzej Wajda's
cinema always stayed at the junction of political commitment and
romanticism, aided by his pet acteurs Daniel Olbrychski and Andrzej
Seweryn. He excels in creating pastoral scenes before slowly infusing
into them an impending feeling of danger. This is a striking feature
of one of his most beautiful films, Chronicle of Love Affairs
(1986). His most politically committed film remains Man
of Iron (1981), which chronicles the development of the
Solidarity movement and won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
Shortly after the strikes, the government forced Wajda out of
his studio X production studio and he chose to go to France where
he stayed until 1989. He lost no time and immediately began directing
Danton, an allegory about Solidarity and the Revolution
starring French actor Gerard Depardieu. This film landed him a
César as Best Director. Pan Tadeusz is the new pinnacle
of a poignant and introspective cinema chanting the grandeur of
the human soul.
Robin
Gatto
Moving Pictures
did an interview
with Wajda at Berlin 2000, where his film was presented in a special
screening.
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