Andrzej Wajda retrospective

Filmmaker Andrzej Wajda receiving the Honorary Academy Award 2000 from actress Jane Fonda

Andrzej Wajda was born on March 6, 1926 in Suwalki, Poland. Wajda's father, a cavalry officer, was killed in the Second World War. At the age of 16, he became a resistance fighter. After the Liberation of Poland, he studied painting at the Cracow Academy of Fine Arts. But eventually he decided on taking up a filmmaking career by enrolling at the famous Lodz film school in 1950. He started as filmmaker Alexander Ford's assistant on Five Boys From Barska Street immediately after his graduation in 1952.

Wajda's first feature film A Generation was released in 1954 and announced the arrival of a strong voice in filmmaking. He established himself as the key figure in the new Polish cinema in no time. The film A Generation is a penetrating study of the effects of war on the psychology of a nation's disillusioned youth. The film and two subsequent films Kanal (1957) and Ashes and Diamonds (1958) form a powerful trilogy in which Wajda examines with intense sensitivity the predicament of individuals caught in events beyond their control and bitterly questions the traditional glorification of heroism in battle. He would periodically return to the themes relating to his WW II experiences. Ashes (1965) and Landscape After the Battle (1970), both dealing with wars of the historic past, still echo Wajda's obsession with the futility of heroism and the bitter aftermath of war. Wajda's anti-war stand is clearly visible in these films.

In the late 1970s, Wajda made films known for their reflection of his country's growing political unrest. Man of Marble (1977) and Without Anaesthesia (1979) study Poland's turmoil from the viewpoint of individuals ruined by the country's widespread oppression, a bricklayer in Man of Marble, a journalist in Without Anaesthesia. His 1981 film Man of Iron (1981), a sequel to Man of Marble, chronicled the development of the Solidarity movement. Released just as the Solidarity strikes were taking place, it became a timely marker of Solidarity for the world, generating through its international acclaim awareness of and support for the movement. Shortly after the strikes, the government forced Wajda out of his 'Studio X' production studio and made him resign from his position as the head of the Polish Filmmakers' Association. Then he moved to France. Danton (1982), his first filmmaking effort there, is an allegory about Solidarity and revolution. He returned to Poland in 1989, when the political atmosphere had become more liberalised. He was appointed as the artistic director of 'Teatr Powszechny', the official Warsaw Theatre and was elected to political office as a senator.

Throughout his filmmaking career, Wajda has proved himself to be a very versatile filmmaker by making different kinds of films: war, political and romantic films as well as comedies, epics, and dramas. In a career spanning over 50 years, he made 48 films. He has won numerous national and international prizes for his films. He received an Honorary Academy Award in 2000 for his lifelong contribution to and achievement in cinematic art.

Zahir Raihan Film Society is screening (on April 11-13,15) eight films in a retrospective to this world-renowned exponent of cinema. This special retrospective has been organised in association with the Alliance Française of Dhaka. These eight world famous films made by Wajda are: Ashes and Diamonds, Landscape After the Battle, The Birch Wood, Man of Marble, The Young Ladies of Wilko, Man of Iron, Danton and Pan Tadeusz. They are being screened at the auditorium of the Alliance Française at Road No. 3, Dhanmondi.

Sabbir Chowdhury, a film critic and film activist, teaches in the department of English at Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.