- A Generation
Infobox Film
name = A Generation
caption =
director =Andrzej Wajda
producer =
writer =Bohdan Czeszko
starring =Tadeusz Łomnicki Urszula Modrzyńska Roman Polanski
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor =
released =January 25 ,1955
runtime = 83 minutes
country =Poland
language = Polish
budget =
amg_id = 1:19364
imdb_id = 0048500"A Generation" (Polish: "Pokolenie") is a 1955 Polish film directed by
Andrzej Wajda . It is based on the novel "Pokolenie" byBohdan Czeszko , who also wrote the script. This is Wajda's first film and the opening installment of hisThree War Films trilogy set against the second World War, which is completed by "Kanal" and "Ashes and Diamonds".ynopsis
"A Generation" is set in
Wola , a working-class section ofWarsaw , in 1942 and tells the stories of two young men at odds with the Nazi occupation of Poland. The young protagonist, Stach (Tadeusz Lomnicki ), is living in squalor on the outskirts of the city and carrying out wayward acts of theft and rebellion. After a friend is killed attempting to heist coal from a German supply train, he finds work as an apprentice at a workshop, where he becomes involved in an undergroundcommunist resistance cell guided first by friendly journeyman there who in turn introduces Stach to the beautiful Dorota (Urszula Modrzynska ). An outsider, Jasio Krone (Tadeusz Janczar ), the temperamental son of an elderly veteran, is initially reluctant to join the struggle but finally commits himself, running relief operations in the Jewish ghetto during the uprising there.Cast
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Tadeusz Łomnicki as Stach Mazur
*Urszula Modrzyńska as Dorota
*Tadeusz Janczar as Jasio Krone
*Janusz Paluszkiewicz as Sekula
*Ryszard Kotys as Jacek (credited as Ryszard Kotas)
*Roman Polanski as MundekProduction
Because blanks at the time did not provide recoil, all shots of automatic weapons were done with live ammunition shot into sandbags off screen. ["On Becoming a Filmmaker" interview with Andrzej Wajda included with Criterion release of "A Generation"]
Analysis
On its face, the film is a coming-of-age story of survival and shattering loss, delivering a brutal portrait of the human cost of war. But as with all of Wajda's films, Polish history and the individual's struggle in the face of crushing political circumstances are just below the surface. In "A Generation", as in "Ashes and Diamonds", the conflict between the communists and the nationalist
Home Army , each representing a diametrically opposed view of Poland's future, are set on a collision course. For Stach, his work for the resistance is part of a larger class war and the struggle for communism.DVD
A box set of the
Three War Films was released byThe Criterion Collection . "A Generation" includes an exclusive interview with the director and film critic Jerzy Płażewski, Wajda's 1951 film school short "Ceramics from Iłża" ("Ceramika Iłżecka"), production photos, publicity stills, posters, and original artwork by the director and an essay by film scholar Ewa Mazierska.References
External links
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* [http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=283&eid=410§ion=essay Criterion Collection essay by Ewa Mazierska]
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