Ashes and Diamonds

Wajda’s most renowned film and landmark of international cinema, Ashes and Diamonds takes place on the final day of WWII, as a young Resistance fighter is assigned to assassinate a Communist official. Perfectly realised, the film is also renowned for its electrifying, iconic, era-defining performance by Zbigniew Cybulski. This vision of Poland poised between the horrors of the recent past and an uncertain future, and the moral dilemmas faced by individuals in a time of transition, is arguably Wajda’s greatest work. (Second Run)