in Memoriam by Alex Deleon

I Must say that I was a little shocked to hear the news last night on Kossuth Radio, Budapest, of the passing of Andrzej Wajda, the Polish cinema  maestro. Not that it is surprising when a man of ninety finally cashes in his chips, but Wajda who just delivered his 47th feature film this year, "Afterimage" ('Powidoki', released in September 2016) was the kind of director you kind of expected to keep truckin' until a hundred.

His first feature film, "Pokolenie" (A Generation, 1954) started what amounted to a Polish Nouvelle Vague which was soon dubbed "The Polish School". Other filmmakers of that era inspired by Wajda included names such as Polanski, Skolimowski, and Andrzej Munk.

When you think in terms of world film history other names, contemporaries of his, which come to mind are; Kurosawa, Bergman, Fellini, Lean, and a handful of others.

The filmographies of such directors may include as many as a half a dozen undisputed Masterpieces.

I have seen all of Wajda excerpt for his last two, Walesa, and Afterimage. On my personal masterpiece list I would include the following Wajda films:

Kanal, 1956

Ashes and Diamonds, 1958

Wszystko na sprzedaż, (Everything for sale, 1968)

The Promised Land (Ziemia obiecana, 1974)

* Man of Marble (Człowiek z marmuru, 1977)

* Man of Iron (Człowiek z żelaza, 1981)

 Without Anesthesia aka Rough Treatment (Bez znieczulenia, 1978)

 Korczak (1990)

Pan Tadeusz (1999)

Katyń (2007)

Plus perhaps another ten  as "near masterpieces".

My all time favorite is Ashes and Diamonds (Popiół i diament 1958) and Man of Marble has often been compared to Citizen Kane.

The American Motion Picture Academy honored Wajda with a career lifetime Oscar in 2002.

I am most thankful to old friend Jolanta Rajzacher of the Polish Film Production Agency for a personal introduction to Wajda in Warsaw around the year 2004, one of the memorable moments of an extended stay in Poland around that time.

There is already a deluge of obituaries, eulogies, and acclamations in the name of this towering figure of Polish cinema, Andrzej Wajda, but since his films meant so much to me this is my own modest contribution the morning after.

Alex, Budapest

10/10/2016

 Polish actor Zbigniew Cybulski was unforgettable in Wajda's early masterliece, "Ashes And Diamonds" ~~