WAJDA- Popiól i diament (1958) - Movie You Must See Before You turn 50

Ashes and Diamonds

BIT 1#   

Distinguished Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda died 90 this month. The director may be best known for Man of Marble and Man of Iron, films which challenged the communist system, exposing its corrupting flaws. However, Wajda has always had a knack for presenting the lives of people entangled in the chaos of history.  (7 films -)

Reading a gravestone ....

Krystyna: So often, are you as a blazing torch with flames/ of burning rags falling about you flaming, /you know not if flames bring freedom or death. /Consuming all that you must cherish /if ashes only will be left, and want Chaos and tempest...Maciek Chelmicki: ...Or will the ashes hold the glory of a starlike diamond... /The Morning Star of everlasting triumph.

The title comes from a 19th century poem by Cyprian Kamil Norwid and references the manner in which diamonds are formed from heat and pressure acting upon coal.

BIT 2# 
Cinematographer Jerzy Wojcik's plastic work is outstanding. Wajda once said to me, when I asked him whether he would prefer the freedom of Western film-making to the artistic constraints of the Eastern bloc, that there were always ways of getting round political censorship but no way to avoid the censorship of money. Later in his career, when his disillusion with the Communist party was complete, he showed - with Man Of Iron, Man Of Marble and several other outstanding films - exactly what he meant. 
(The Guardian ) 

REFERENCES:Ciudadano Kane (1941) - and Gregg Toland's -was a huge influence on Andrzej Wajda at the time.René Clair was a particular fan of the film....and One of Martin Scorsese's favorite movies.Wajda's His direction of Z. Cybulski, both having seen Dean on screen. Wajda wanted Cybulski to emulate Dean's air of diffidence and apparent "non-acting"

BIT 3#  From the poet: Cyprian Kamil Norwid (1821-1883)

Beauty and truth are the notions combined and inherent in the image of the diamond, the symbol which, can be viewed also as an inscape of their poetic greatness as well as the survivial in the world and poetry of that which is of true relevance to man.

From you, as from burning chips of resin
Fiery fragments circle far and near:
Ablaze, you don't know if you are to be free.
Or if all that is yours will disappear.

Will only ashes remain and confusion
Whirling into the void? - or will there shine
Amidst the ash a starlight diamond, 
The dawning of eternal victory!

Gregorio Moran - Sabatinas Intempestivas 15/10/2016 

Al arder no sabes si serás libre,
Si sólo quedarán cenizas y confusión
O se hallará en las profundidades
Un diamante que brille entre la ceniza.