A major figure in the world of post-World War II Eastern European cinema, Polish director Andrzej Wajda has chronicled his country's political and social evolution with sensitivity, fervor, and a refusal to make compromises in dealing with his difficult subjects. Once dubbed a symbol for his besieged country, Wajda has repeatedly drawn from Poland's history to suit his tragic sensibility, crafting an oeuvre of work that devastates even as it informs.
The son of a Polish cavalry officer who was killed early in World War II, Wajda fought in the Resistance movement against the Nazis when he was still a teenager. After the war, he studied to be a painter before entering the Lodz film school. On the heels of his apprenticeship to director Aleksander Ford, Wajda was given the opportunity to direct a film on his own. With A Generation (1955), the first-time director poured out all his bitterness and disillusionment regarding blind patriotism and wartime heroics, using as his alter ego a young, James Dean-style antihero played by Zbigniew Cybulski. The Wajda/Cybulski team went on to make two more films of escalating brilliance, which further developed the antiwar theme of A Generation: Kanal (1956) and Ashes and Diamonds (1958). While perfectly capable of turning out mainstream commercial pictures (often dismissed as "trivial" by his critics), Wajda was more interested in works of allegory and symbolism, with certain symbolic devices (such as setting fire to a glass of liquor, representing the flame of youthful idealism that was extinguished by the war) popping up repeatedly in his films.
In 1967, Cybulski was killed in an auto accident, whereupon the director articulated his grief with what is considered his most personal film, Everything for Sale (1969). Wajda's later devotion to Poland's burgeoning Solidarity movement was manifested in Man of Marble (1976) and Man of Iron (1981), with Solidarity leader Lech Walesa appearing as himself in the latter film. The director's involvement in this movement would prompt the Polish government to force Wajda's production company out of business. After several years' exile in France, Wajda returned to his politically liberated homeland in 1989. In the early '90s, he was elected a senator and also appointed artistic director of Warsaw's Teatr Powschensky. He continued to make films, addressing the topic of World War II in 1993's Pierscionek Z Orlem W Koronie and 1996's Wielki Tydzien. In 1997, the director went in a different direction with Panna Nikt, a coming-of-age drama that explored the darker and more spiritual aspects of a relationship between two high-school girls. Three years later, at the 2000 Oscar ceremony, Wajda was presented with an honorary Oscar for his numerous contributions to the cinema; he subsequently donated the award to Krakow's Jagiellonaian University.
| Title | Year | Editors' Rating | User Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Sweet Rush
Director, Screenwriter |
2008 | |||
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Katyn
Director, Screenwriter |
2007 | |||
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Primo Levi's Journey
Participant |
2006 | |||
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Solidarity, Solidarity
Director, Screenwriter |
2005 | |||
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Zemsta
Director, Screenwriter |
2003 | |||
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The Lesson of Polish Cinema
Director |
2002 | |||
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Wyrok na Franciszka Klosa
Director, Screenwriter |
2002 | |||
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Noc czerwcowa
Director |
2001 | |||
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The Condemnation of Franciszek Klos
Director |
2000 | |||
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Bigda idzie
Director |
1999 | |||
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Pan Tadeusz
Director, Screenwriter |
1999 | |||
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Panna Nikt
Director |
1997 | |||
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Miss Nobody
Director |
1996 | |||
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Wielki Tydzien
Director, Producer, Screenwriter |
1996 | |||
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Nastazja
Director, Screenwriter |
1994 | |||
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Pierscionek Z Orlem W Koronie
Director, Screenwriter |
1993 | |||
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Korczak
Director |
1990 | |||
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Les Possédés
Director, Screenwriter |
1988 | |||
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Kronika Wypadkow Milosnych
Director, Screenwriter |
1986 | |||
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Eine Liebe in Deutschland
Director, Screenwriter |
1983 | |||
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Wajda's Danton
Actor |
1983 | |||
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Danton
Director, Screenwriter |
1982 | |||
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Man of Iron
Director |
1981 | |||
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Bez Znieczulenia
Director, Screenwriter |
1979 | |||
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Dyrygent
Director |
1979 | |||
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The Young Girls of Wilko
Director |
1979 | |||
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Zaproszenie Do Wnetrza
Director |
1978 | |||
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Man of Marble
Director |
1976 | |||
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Smuga Cienia
Director, Screenwriter |
1976 | |||
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The Promised Land
Director, Screenwriter |
1974 | |||
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Wesele
Director |
1972 | |||
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Brzezina
Director, Screenwriter |
1971 | |||
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Pilatus und andere
Director |
1971 | |||
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Trzecia Czesc Nocy
Supervisor/Manager |
1971 | |||
|
Landscape After Battle
Director, Screenwriter |
1970 | |||
|
Polowanie Na Muchy
Director |
1969 | |||
|
Everything for Sale
Director, Screenwriter |
1968 | |||
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Przekladaniec
Director |
1968 | |||
|
Roly Poly
Director |
1968 | |||
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Vrata Raja
Director, Screenwriter |
1967 | |||
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Popioly
Director |
1966 | |||
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Interview with Ballmeyer
Director |
1962 | |||
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L'Amour à Vingt Ans
Director |
1962 | |||
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Samson
Director, Screenwriter |
1961 | |||
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The Siberian Lady Macbeth
Director |
1961 | |||
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Niewinni Czarodzieje
Director |
1960 | |||
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Lotna
Director, Screenwriter |
1959 | |||
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Ashes and Diamonds
Director, Screenwriter |
1958 | |||
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Kanal
Director |
1957 | |||
|
A Generation
Director |
1954 |
