Ashes and Diamonds

Name: Ashes and Diamonds
Genre: Drama, War, Romance
Released: 1958-10-03
Duration: 1 h 43 min
Rating: 7.7
Cast: Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyżewska, Wacław Zastrzeżynski, Adam Pawlikowski, Bogumił Kobiela

Touched with the fire and rebellion of a new generation of Polish film makers

Popiół i diament (1958)

Timing: 1:43 (103 min)

7.395/10
266

7.706/10
5510

7.7/10
15000

All about film

Video 1

Photo 42

Actors and characters

Watch film Ashes and Diamonds | Ashes And Diamonds aka Popiól i diament (1958) Trailer

Release date

1958-10-03

Country

Poland

Production

Zespół Filmowy Kadr

Genre

Drama, War, Romance

Budget

Revenue

Website

Director

Andrzej Wajda

Actors

Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyżewska, Wacław Zastrzeżynski, Adam Pawlikowski, Bogumił Kobiela, Jan Ciecierski, Stanisław Milski, Artur Młodnicki, Halina Kwiatkowska, Ignacy Machowski
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Operator

Jerzy Wójcik

Composer

Artist

Audition

Editing

Halina Nawrocka
All team (28)

Short description

A young academy soldier, Maciek Chelmicki, is ordered to shoot the secretary of the KW PPR. A coincidence causes him to kill someone else. Meeting face to face with his victim, he gets a shock. He faces the necessity of repeating the assassination. He meets Krystyna, a girl working as a barmaid in the restaurant of the "Monopol" hotel. His affection for her makes him even more aware of the senselessness of killing at the end of the war. Loyalty to the oath he took, and thus the obligation to obey the order, tips the scales.

What's left behind the scenes

The film is based on Jerzy Andrzejewski's novel 'Ashes and Diamonds' (Popiół i diament, 1948).
Zbigniew Cybulski played in his everyday clothes and dark sunglasses, which did not match the historical realities of 1945.
The film was shot in Trzebnica and Wrocław.
“Ashes and Diamonds” faced serious censorship difficulties. Those responsible for ideology were disturbed by the fact that the anti-communist, played by Cybulski, did not lose his romantic aura even after killing a party official. The film made it to the Venice Film Festival on the initiative of a minor official, against the decision of the party leadership. Although the film was shown out of competition, it was noticed and received worldwide recognition. It was only allowed to be shown in the USSR in 1965.
This is the final film in Andrzej Wajda’s war trilogy about World War II, which also includes “Generation” and “Kanał”.
The film is based on Jerzy Andrzejewski's novel "Ashes and Diamonds" (Popiól i diament, 1948).
"Ashes and Diamonds" faced significant censorship difficulties. Those responsible for ideology were disturbed by the fact that the anti-communist character, played by Tsibulsky, did not lose his romantic aura even after killing a party official. The film made it to the Venice Film Festival on the initiative of a minor official, despite a decision by the party leadership. Although the film was shown out of competition, it was noticed and received international recognition. It was only allowed to be shown in the USSR in 1965.
The last film in Andrzej Wajda's war trilogy about World War II, which also includes "Generation" and "Kanał."

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