Andrzej Wajda, RIP

Andrzej Wajda, the bard of political freedom in film and, in my opinion, the greatest living filmmaker, is dead at the age of 90.

Wajda’s career is absolutely titanic. His legendary trilogy of World War II-era Poland shot him into the spotlight. A Generation (1955) was a slightly romantic look at the Polish underground and the appeal of Marxism to resistance fighters. Kanal (1956) is a claustrophobic look at the Warsaw uprising, almost all in the canals under the city. Ashes and Diamonds (1958) shows an already divided and increasingly corrupt post-war Poland, even though it is set on the last day of the war, when ideological factionalism and the elimination of threats to the new communist order are taking over. This trilogy, with its eyes wide open honesty about the bravery of the resistant movement and the hard decisions to follow, is remarkable.

The only Wajda film from the 60s I have seen is The Siberian Lady MacBeth (1962), which is excellent although not quite in the same league as his very best. Wajda first came to my attention when I saw his unbelievable Man of Marble (1977), a searing view into the hypocrisy of postwar Poland and the betrayal of the revolution that tells a story of a young idealistic filmmaker (who only owns one set of clothes evidently) and her search to find out about a once idealized and now-forgotten bricklayer, chewed up and spit out by the socialist paradise. Wajda managed to stay in Poland after this, only to follow up with Man of Iron (1981), a follow up film about the Solidarity movement that actually has Lech Walesa in it. This finally forced Wajda out. He moved to France. There, he kept up his films of history and freedom with a biopic of Danton (1983) that might be the best film ever made about the French Revolution. Wajda returned to France after the overthrow of the communist government. His last masterpiece was Katyn (2007), an appropriate film for him as his father was killed there. This is a devastating examination of the erasure of an entire generation of leaders. One wonders what could have been otherwise for postwar Poland.

Wajda consistently made beautiful films about political and personal freedom. His loss is tremendous.

So who is now the greatest living filmmaker? I say it is Martin Scorsese.