Quite shattered at the end of a relaxing weekend; a meeting of the York Rec Music Society on Saturday, followed by performances, yesterday, of Beethoven's Fidelio and a further look at the remastered Gerontius on DVD, before switching to hear the late night TV news, including an item covering the death of the distinguished director, Andrzej Wajda, at 90. Rather like being disturbed in the middle of a peaceful sleep...before the silence rushes in! His prolific output, particularly in the 50s's, mainly at film societies and later in my London years, widely available at the NFT and independent circuits.
Wajda instantly impacted with me when I first saw A Generation, 1954, followed by Kanal, 1956, and Ashes & Diamonds, 1958 - later known as The Wajda Trilogy, now available in a DVD boxset. They reflect on his years as a teenage wartime resistance fighter and the bleak reality of this era. He was a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow before studying at the Lotz Film School. Indeed, I was disappointed when I missed meeting him, by a few hours, when I attended a film festival at Cracow in the mid-80s. However, I was also relieved to quit Poland as I was disturbed by a visit to old-town Warsaw, a couple of days earlier, and the memories of the occupation years leave a deep sense of hurt in the psyche.
Vivid memories, too, of his friend, Zbyszek Cybulski, an actor with a star presence comparable to Montgomery Clift and, alas, they both died too young. Budgetary restraints required his films to be made in monochrome but his incisive imagination told us all we need to know, totally devoid of sentiment. RIP, Andrzej Wajda - and thank you.
Wajda instantly impacted with me when I first saw A Generation, 1954, followed by Kanal, 1956, and Ashes & Diamonds, 1958 - later known as The Wajda Trilogy, now available in a DVD boxset. They reflect on his years as a teenage wartime resistance fighter and the bleak reality of this era. He was a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow before studying at the Lotz Film School. Indeed, I was disappointed when I missed meeting him, by a few hours, when I attended a film festival at Cracow in the mid-80s. However, I was also relieved to quit Poland as I was disturbed by a visit to old-town Warsaw, a couple of days earlier, and the memories of the occupation years leave a deep sense of hurt in the psyche.
Vivid memories, too, of his friend, Zbyszek Cybulski, an actor with a star presence comparable to Montgomery Clift and, alas, they both died too young. Budgetary restraints required his films to be made in monochrome but his incisive imagination told us all we need to know, totally devoid of sentiment. RIP, Andrzej Wajda - and thank you.
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