Poland

As a result of successive partitions of the country by Russia, Austria, and Prussia, Poland had not been as an independent entity for well over one hundred years until 1919, shortly after World War I. The foreign domination of a fiercely nationalistic people—essentially renewed with the German occupation of 1939–1945 and continued by Soviet control of 1945–1989—has strongly influenced the country's cinema even up to the present day and has led to a filmic production heavily dependent on political and historical themes. This nationalistic impulse has been strengthened by subject matter drawn from Poland's rich literary tradition and the fiction and drama of Henryk Sienkiewicz, Stefan ?eromski, Boles?aw Prus, W?adys?aw Reymont, Stanis?aw Wyspia?ski, and Adam Mickiewicz who have provided an endless source of material. As with other countries of the former Soviet bloc, however, the renewed independence of the post-1989 period has produced almost as many problems in Poland as it has solved, and the disappearance of a state-subsidized (and controlled) system of filmmaking has led to a kind of free-market anarchy that has little respect for either politically-oriented themes or, indeed, for art.

Although Poland has never suffered the mass exodus or silencing of its finest talents as, for example, Czechoslovakia did after 1968, many important directors have chosen to work, either permanently or occasionally abroad but not always for political reasons. Since the 1970s, major figures such as Roman Pola?ski (b. 1933), Jerzy Skolimowski (b. 1938), and Walerian Borowczyk (1923–2006) have created much of their finest work outside Poland. The country's best-known filmmaker, Andrzej Wajda (b. 1926), has made several co-productions in other European countries, as has Krzysztof Zanussi (b. 1939), while Krzysztof Kie?lowski's (1941–1996) most famous films were made in France. With a few exceptions, such as Pola Negri (1894–1987), Poland has produced few internationally acclaimed film stars, though Zbigniew Cybulski (1927–1967) achieved widespread recognition during his brief lifetime, and such fine actors as Daniel Olbrychski (b. 1945), Bogus?aw Linda (b. 1952), Maja Komorowska (b. 1937), and Krystyna Janda (b. 1952) have worked frequently in other European countries.

THE SILENT ERA AND THE 1930s

Polish audiences were exposed to the films of Thomas Edison and the Lumière brothers in 1895 and 1896 before domestic production began a few years later. Early Polish films took the form of newsreels or similar factual material, such as the medical subjects and short documentaries of Polish life produced by Boles?aw Matuszewski, who also wrote theoretical articles on the new medium and proposed the establishment of a film archive as early as 1898. The first short narrative film, Powrót Birbanta (The Return of a Merry Fellow, 1902), was directed by Kazimierz Prószy?ski (1875–1945), an important pioneer of film technology. This was followed in 1908 by the first short feature, Anto? pierwszy raz w Warszawie (Antho? for the First Time in Warsaw), and a spate of literary adaptations, comedies, and melodramas, few of which have survived. During this period, the Sfinks Film Studio turned out patriotic and sensationalist works and several Yiddish films, and the anti-Russian epic Ko?ciuszko pod Rac?awicami appeared in 1913. The leading director of the time was Aleksander Hertz (1879–1928), and production flourished particularly—and surprisingly—during the war years of 1914–1918. Pola Negri (originally Barbara Apolonia Cha?upiec) made eight popular erotic melodramas before leaving in 1917 for Germany and then Hollywood. Another leading female star of the period, Jadwiga Smosarska (1898–1971), specialized in roles that portrayed suffering and sacrificial womanhood, such as in Tr?dowata (The Leper, 1926).

The immediate postwar period and the 1920s saw increasing American, French, and German domination of production and distribution. Homegrown films focused on patriotic, anti-German, and anti-Russian themes along with literary adaptations. Józef Pi?sudski's cou?tat in 1926 had little effect on film production, but few films of lasting merit were produced. Wampiry Warszawy (The Vampires of Warsaw, Wiktor Biegan d'éski, 1925) was popular and Huragan (Hurricane), directed by Józef Lejtes (1901–1983) in 1928, proved to be the country's first international success. In 1924, the literary critic Karol Irzykowski published Dziesi?ta Muza (The Tenth Muse), and although it was an early major theoretical work on film aesthetics, Polish filmmaking continued to rely largely on well-worn farcical, melodramatic, patriotic, and sensationalistic themes. Production fluctuated between a low of ten features in 1931 to a high of twenty-seven in 1937.

The conversion to sound came slowly, with the first Polish talkie, Moralno?? Pani Dulskiej (The Morality of Mrs. Dulska), appearing only in 1930, and initially resulted largely in highly theatrical works lacking any real sense of film style. Meanwhile, from 1929 to 1930, a group of avant-garde filmmakers and theorists—including Aleksander Ford (1908–1980), Wanda Jakubowska (1907–1998), Stanis?aw Wohl (1912–1985), and Jerzy Toeplitz (1909–1995)—argued for a more "socially useful" type of filmmaking than what was currently typical. Although their START (Society of the Devotees of the Artistic Film) group was dissolved in 1935, it provided the basis for the revitalized Polish cinema of the post-1945 period, especially in the films of Ford and Jakubowska. Ford's second feature, Legion Ulicy (The Legion of the Streets, 1932), and his co-directed Ludzie Wis?y (The People of the Vistula, 1937) attracted particular attention. Józef Lejtes and Juliusz Gardan (1901–1944) (especially with his 1938 Halka) became important directors, Jadwiga Smosarska remained a popular actress, and the comic actor Adolf Dymsza (1900–1975) starred in films such as Dwana?cie Krzese? (Twelve Chairs, 1933) and Antek Policmajster (Police Chief Antek, 1935). The producer Joseph Green (1900–1996) brought about a revival of Yiddish cinema with such films as Yidl mitn Fidl (Yiddle with His Fiddle, 1936) and Dybuk (The Dybbuk, 1937).

On the political front, a nonaggression pact between Poland and Germany in 1934 was followed by the death of Pi?sudski in 1935 and the establishment of a military dominated "Government of the Colonels." Then came the German invasion of 1 September 1939, followed by yet another partition as the country was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union.

FROM WORLD WAR II TO
MARTIAL LAW: 1939–1980

No new Polish films were produced under the German occupation; audiences could see only German and Italian films or Polish films from the prewar period. Many major figures in the industry emigrated, either to the West or to the Soviet Union; others joined the resistance, where several were killed or imprisoned; and still others collaborated with the occupying authorities. The Warsaw Uprising of August 1944 resulted in the near-destruction of the non-Communist resistance, and the Government of National Unity that had been formed in 1945 was replaced in 1947 by one dominated by pro-Soviet Communists. The film industry was nationalized with the formation of Film Polski in November 1945 under the direction of Aleksander Ford, and the ?ód? Film School (soon to become world famous) was established in 1948 with Jerzy Toeplitz as rector. The country's frontiers were readjusted, shifting its territory to the west and resulting in a more homogeneous and strongly Catholic population.

The basic infrastructure of the film industry had been destroyed during the war, many leading personnel were lost, and relatively few cinemas survived. Only thirty-eight features were made between 1947 and 1955, and, after an initial period of liberalization, ideological conformity was imposed and Socialist Realism, with its standardized plots and subject matter and distaste for experimental or unconventional techniques, became the only acceptable film style. Some films of genuine quality emerged nevertheless, such as Ford's Ulica Graniczna (Border Street, 1949), set in the Warsaw Ghetto, and Pi?tka z Ulicy Barskiej (Five Boys from Barska Street, 1954), which deals with juvenile delinquency. Jakubowska's partly autobiographical and strongly pro-Soviet Ostatni Etap (The Last Stage, 1948) was set in Auschwitz. Wajda's Pokolenie (A Generation, 1955) introduced a major talent, though its politics were later to be judged too "correct" and compromised.

The Pozna? riots of 1956 brought about a change of government under the previously disgraced W?dys?aw Gomu?ka, and a short period of relative liberalization followed characterized by the work of the so-called Polish School. The film industry was reorganized into eight "units" run by the filmmakers themselves, though ultimate control of theme and style remained with the government's censors. (This system persisted, with some variations and setbacks, to the end of the Communist era.) Foreign films were imported on an increased scale, influencing younger directors in particular. The resulting creative outburst displayed diversity of style and subject matter rather than uniformity. Although political, literary, and historical themes predominated, there was also room for personal, introspective, and psychological studies, and the Black School of documentary provided criticism of bureaucracy and exposed social problems.

Wajda's Kana? (1957) and, especially, Popiól idiament (Ashes and Diamonds, 1958), starring the charismatic Zbigniew Cybulski, were huge international successes and established the director as both celebrating and demystifying Polish "romanticism" in flamboyant and memorable visual images. Andrzej Munk's (1921–1961) more skeptical and antiheroic Cz?owiek na Torze (Man on the Tracks, 1957)and Eroica (Heroism, 1958) announced a talent that may have been even finer but was cut short by the director's early death in 1961. Wojciech Has (1925–2000), with Po?egnania (Farewells, 1958); Jerzy Kawalerowicz (b. 1922), with Poci?g (Night Train, 1959) and Matka Joanna od Anio?ów (Mother Joan of the Angels, 1961); and Kazimierz Kutz (b. 1929), with Krzy? Walecznych (Cross of Valor, 1959), all laid the foundations for prestigious and long-lasting careers in the industry.

Despite tightened censorship after 1960 and attacks on "subversive" Western influences, a new generation of directors attempted a more realistic, personal, and skeptical approach to the traditional themes and to explorations of Polish identity and moral dilemmas. The two leading figures here were Roman Pola?ski, with Nóz w Wodzie (Knife in the Water, 1962), and Jerzy Skolimowski, with his semiautobiographical early films, such as Walkower (Walkover, 1965); both directors attacked the conformism and false heroics of Polish society, filtered largely through class or generational conflicts. Both were invited to work in Western Europe, initially in France. Pola?ski then moved to Hollywood, until legal reasons brought him back to France. Skolimowski too had worked in the United States but returned to Poland in 1967 to make the strongly critical R? ce do Góry (Hands Up!). When it was promptly banned, he continued his career in Britain and the United States, returning to Poland after the fall of Communism to produce a largely unsatisfactory new version of that film.

Literary adaptations and epic productions such as Ford's Krzy?acy (Black Cross, 1960) and Kawalerowicz's Faraon (Pharoah, 1966) flourished, though Ford, like many others, emigrated to Israel in 1968 following a series of officially sanctioned anti-Semitic campaigns. Following worker riots in Gda?sk in 1970, a change of government saw Edward Gierek replace Gomu?ka, and another brief period of liberalization ensued. Several highly stylized, often symbolic, films appeared, sometimes with "Aesopian" undercurrents that criticized contemporary society within an allegorical or historical framework. Some of the more notable of these are Andrzej ?u?awski's (b. 1940) Trzecia Cz??? Nocy (The Third Part of the Night, 1971), Janusz Majewski's (b. 1931) Lokis (The Bear, 1970) and Zazdro?? iMedycyna (Jealousy and Medicine, 1973), Kazimierz Kutz's Sól Ziemi Czarnej (Salt of the Black Earth, 1970) and Per?a wKoronie (Pearls in the Crown, 1972), Wojciech Has's Sanatorium pod Klepsydr? (The Hour-Glass Sanatorium, 1973), Edward ?ebrowski's (b. 1935) Szpital Przemienienia (Hospital of the Transfiguration, 1978), Walerian Borowczyk's (1923–2006) Dzieje Grzechu (Story of a Sin, 1975), and Wojciech Marczewski's (b. 1944) Zmory (Nightmares, 1979). Marczewski's Dreszcze (Shivers, 1981) was banned, however, as was ?ulawski's Diabe? (The Devil, 1972), and the latter director then left to live and work in France.

Several major figures emerged in this period: Krzysztof Zanussi demonstrated his austere style and concern with moral choices and problems in Iluminacje (Illumination, 1973) and Bilans Kwartalny (The Quarterly Balance, 1975); Krzysztof Kie?lowski (1941–1996), after several controversial and sometimes banned documentaries, provided similar social criticism in his feature Amator (Camera Buff, 1979); and Felix Falk's (b. 1941) Wodzirej (Top Dog, 1978) satirized social climbing and careerism. Agnieszka Holland's (b. 1948) Aktorzy Prowincjonalni (Provincial Actors) appeared in 1979, as did Filip Bajon's (b. 1947) Aria dla Atlety (Aria for an Athlete). The groundbreaking films of the period, however, were Wajda's Czlowiek z Marmuru (Man of Marble, 1977) and Czlowiek z ?elaza (Man of Iron, 1981), whose strong political themes both reflected and contributed to another bout of worker unrest and led to the formation first of KOR (Committee to Defend the Workers) and then of Solidarity in 1980.

"THE CINEMA OF MORAL CONCERN"AND THE FALL OF COMMUNISM: 1980–1989

Increased social unrest following the deposition of Gierek in September 1980 led to the imposition of martial law under General Wojciech Jaruzelski in October 1981 and the subsequent arrest of Solidarity leaders, including Lech Wa??sa. The country's grave economic problems, including food shortages, remained unresolved. Enthusiasm for the election of Archbishop Karol Wojtyla as pope in 1978 followed by his visits to his native country in 1979 and 1983 also helped to undermine the legitimacy of the secular authorities. Several controversial films were banned—most notoriously Ryszard Bugajski's (b. 1943) Przes?uchanie (Interrogation, 1982), which attacked the police-state mentality that seemed to be returning to the country—and screenings of films from the West declined sharply. Meanwhile, television and video, together with overtly commercial films such as Sexmisja (Sexmission, Juliusz Machulski, 1984), were beginning to drain audiences from serious attempts to understand the country's problems. Nevertheless, Zanussi, Holland, and Kieslowski continued to act as the country's moral conscience in films that examined themes of conformism, corruption, cynicism, and cronyism. Zanussi and Holland, along with Wajda, made important co-productions in France and Germany (Zanussi's Rok Spokojnego Slonca [The Year of the Quiet Sun, 1984], Holland and Wajda's Danton [1982] and Eine Liebe in Deutschland [A Love in Germany, 1983]). Zanussi also had a brief and unhappy experience working in the United States. Kie?lowski emerged as an internationally acclaimed figure with his masterly Dekalog (Decalogue, 1988), originally made as ten hour-long films for television, though they were subsequently released for cinema screenings as well. Taken together, these emerged as a comprehensive study of contemporary Polish society, examined with acute psychological insight into moral flaws and weaknesses, and also occasional triumphs.

By 1989, the failure of both the Communist experiment and martial law itself had become too obvious to ignore any longer; free elections in 1989 swept Jaruzelski from power, replacing him with a government under the control of Solidarity. The film industry, which had begun its own reorganization in 1987 with a new film law, was now removed from state control completely, forcing filmmakers to receive only minimal state subsidies and to rely increasingly on private financing and commercial success for survival. Previously banned, or "shelved," films such as Bugajski's Interrogation, Jerzy Domaradzki's (b. 1943) Wielki Bieg (The Big Race, 1981), and Holland's Kobieta Samotna (A Woman Alone, 1981)—controversial, courageous depictions of the events and conditions prevailing in Communist Poland—were released, and Poland witnessed the formation of many independent studios in place of the old film units. Some of the most important studios at the time were Filip Bajon's Dom, Jerzy Kawalerowicz's Kadr, Tadeusz Chmielewski's Oko, Janusz Morgenstern's Perspektywa, Bohdan Por?ba's Profil, Krzysztof Zanussi's Tor, Janusz Machulski's Zebra, Jerzy Hoffman's Zodiak, and the Karol Irzykowski Film Studio. As in other countries of the former Soviet bloc, however, audiences seemed to have opted for escapism and sensationalism rather than intellectual and political challenges, and the results of these changes have been, at best, mixed.

ANDRZEJ WAJDA
b. Suwalki, Poland, 6 March 1926

Andrzej Wajda remains first among equals in a remarkable pantheon of Polish directors working since World War II, contributing more than any other director to Polish national cinema. Director of more than forty-five films and forty theater productions in Poland and worldwide, he received an Oscar^® for lifetime achievement in 2000, characteristically and modestly accepting it as a tribute to all of Polish cinema.

Wajda's early career was deeply affected by his experience of the Polish Holocaust as it affected both Poles and Polish Jews during is youth. He studied painting at Kraków's Academy of Fine Art until 1949 and then joined the L? ód? Film School, graduating in 1953. Wajda became assistant to Aleksander Ford on Pi?tka z Ulicy Barskiej (Five Boys from Barska Street, 1954), made during the dying phase of Socialist Realism. In 1955, he directed the first part of his famous war trilogy, Pokolenie (A Generation), followed by Kanal (1957) and his early masterpiece, Popiól i diament (Ashes and Diamonds, 1958). Until 1989, Wajda had to negotiate the propagandistic demands of the state censorship and funding system even as his Polish audience looked to him for information about its latest imprisonment, having lost its independence for many of the previous two hundred years. He accomplished this through a stylistic hybridity that at the time was seen by some as eclectic and baroque. For instance, in the film Lotna (1959), aesthetics overshadowed the film's meaning. This honest film about the brutality of the first day of World War II in Poland turned into a stunning portrayal of Polish cavalry attacking German tanks.

His next great period began with Wszystko na sprzeda? (Everything for Sale) in 1969, a requiem for his work with iconic actor Zbigniew Cybulski and a reflexive meditation on film. Krajobraz po bitwie (Landscape After the Battle) in 1970 continued his career-long attempt to grapple with Holocaust representation. His adaptation of Stanis l aw Wyspianski's Wesele (The Wedding) in 1973 continued his engagement with the Polish literary canon. This period concluded with the diptych of Czlowiek z marmuru (Man of Marble) in 1977 and Cz?owiek z ?elaza (Man of Iron) in 1981. Both films described the corruption of the Socialist system and the rise to power of the political opposition in Poland.

After the revolution of 1989, Wajda became a senator until 1991, confirming his place at the interface of politics and culture in Poland. In 1990, he made Korczak, one of his finest but perhaps most controversial films. Further work includes his elegiac reading of the national epic poem Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz (1999) and another adaptation of a Polish classic, Zemsta (Revenge, 2002), a comedy starring Roman Pola?ski.

RECOMMENDED VIEWING

Pokolenie (A Generation, 1955), Kanal (1957), Popióli diament (Ashes and Diamonds, 1958), Wszystko na sprzeda? (Everything for Sale, 1969), Brzezina (The Birchwood, 1970), Ziemia obiecana (Promised Land, 1975), Czlowiek z marmuru (Man of Marble, 1977), Panny z Wilka (The Young Ladies of Wilko, 1979), Czlowiek z ?elaza (Man of Iron, 1981), Danton (1983)

FURTHER READING

Andrzejewski, Jerzy. Three Films: "Ashes and Diamonds"; "Kanal"; "A Generation." London: Lorrimer, 1973.

Falkowska, Janina. The Political Films of Andrzej Wajda: Dialogism in "Man of Marble," "Man of Iron," and "Danton." New York: Berghahn Books, 1996.

Michalek, Boleslaw. The Cinema of Andrzej Wajda. Translated by Edward Rothert. South Brunswick, NJ: A. S. Barnes, 1973.

Orr, John and Elzbieta Ostrowska. The Cinema of Andrzej Wajda. London: Wallflower Press, 2003.

Janina Falkowska

FILM IN POLAND AFTER 1989

Several major directions of the New Polish Cinema of this era can be observed: mafia films, primarily in the early 1990s; films about the nation's recent past; comedies; and personal films and documentaries. The so-called mafia films were aimed at creating an alternative to American cinema while the other types employed entirely new, nonconventional approaches and themes in their presentation of the altered social and political realities of Poland. Moreover, these films moved away from strictly national themes (such as those characteristic of Wajda and Kutz, for instance), seeking a more universal appeal.

The early 1990s were characterized by the emergence of many important films dealing with the recent past. Robert Gli?ski (b. 1952), for instance, produced an award-winning film about Polish citizens deported by Stalin to Kazakstan, Wszystko co Najwa?niejsze (All That Really Matters, 1992); other lauded films that honored Poland's recent past are Przypadek Pekosi?skiego (The Caséski, GrzegorzKrólikiewicz, 1993), Pokuszenie (Temptation, Barbara Sass, 1995), and Kazimierz Kutz's Plulkownik Kwiatkowski (Colonel Kwiatkowski, 1995). Other important films of the 1990s are Dlug (The Debt, Krzysztof Krauze, 1999) and Poniedzia?ek (Monday, Witold of PekosinAdamek, 1998), as well as two other films by Kutz: Zawrócony (1994) and ?mierc jak Kromka Chleba (Death as a Slice of Bread, 1994).

The recognizable comedy trend of the 1990s is represented by films such as Kolejno?? Uczu? (Sequence of Feelings, Radoslaw Piwowarski, 1993), as well as the amusingly political films Rozmowy Kontrolowane (Controlled Conversations, Sylwester Ch?ci?ski, 1991), and Uprowadzenie Agaty (Hijacking of Agata, Marek Piwowski, 1993). Finally, personal films and documentaries, many of these by women filmmakers, contribute to the complexity and wealth of themes presented in the 1990s. The honest, engaging films of Andrzej Bara?ski (b. 1941), Jan Jakub Kolski (b. 1956), and Andrzej Kondriatuk (b. 1936), present provincial Poland in a poignant, touching manner.

Not every filmmaker, however, could find a voice in this new reality. Older masters such as Falk, Kawalerowicz, and Wajda had great difficulty finding new themes and new aesthetics that could interpret the rapidly changing reality around them, for neither their films' themes nor their aesthetics matched the expectations of young audiences. International success came chiefly to Kie?lowski, whose 1990s films were co-produced with French and Swiss companies, moved away from political or social content and concentrated on larger human issues. Slow-moving and mysterious, films such as Podwójne ?ycie Weroniki (The Double Life of Veronique, 1991) and the Trzy Kolory trilogy (Three Colors, 1993–94), are widely admired by audiences in Europe and elsewhere and situate Kie?lowski with Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini—among the great philosophers of cinema.

Jerzy Stuhr (b. 1947), who played major roles in the films of Kie?lowski and Holland, carries on the tradition of reflexive film in Historie Mi?osne (Love Stories, 1997), Tydzie? z Zycia M?czyzny (A Week in the Life of a Man, 1999), and Du?e Zwierz? (Big Animal, 2000). Only scarcely alluding to the social realities of Poland in the late 1990s, these films deal with the general issues of love, responsibility, ethics, and morality. Stuhr realistically presents conflicts between public and private spheres in people's lives, depicts the mentalities of both large cities and small towns, and gently advocates tolerance and forgiveness.

The years surrounding the new millennium have brought some optimism to Polish cinema. Among the most important twenty-first-century trends are new adaptations of the Polish literary canon and the return to powerful "social content" films. In the first group, Hoffman's Ogniem i Mieczem (With Fire and Sword, 1999) and Wajda's Pan Tadeusz (Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania, 1999) and Zemsta (The Revenge, 2002) have proved to be the most commercially successful. In the second group, Cze?? Tereska (Hi, Tereska, Gli?ski, 2001) and Edi (Piotr Trzaskalski, 2002) have shocked audiences with their bleakness. The style of the personal film, made popular in the 1990s also continues to be fashionable; for instance, Zanussi's ?ycie Jako Glin?miertelna Choroba Przenoszona Drog? P?ciow? (Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease, 2000) is widely acclaimed, having both startled and gripped spectators with its brutal honesty about people's indifference to the fate of the incurably ill.

In the twenty-first century, Polish cinema maintains its lead among its East-Central European peers. The films of promising new Polish filmmakers such as Gli?ski, Kolski, and Krauze continue to dominate international festivals and gain recognition and acceptance among European audiences.

SEE ALSO National Cinema

FURTHER READING

Bren, Frank. World Cinema: Poland. London: Flicks Books, 1990.

Coates, Paul. The Story of the Lost Reflection: The Alienation of the Image in Western and Polish Cinema. London: Verso, 1985.

——. ed. Lucid Dreams: The Films of Krzyszyof Kie?lowski. Trowbridge, England: Flicks Books, 1999.

Cunningham, John. Hungarian Cinema: From Coffee House to Multiplex. New York: Wallflower Press, 2003.

Haltof, Marek. Polish National Cinema. New York: Berghahn Books, 2002.

Michalek, Boleslaw, and Frank Turaj. The Modern Cinema of Poland. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988.

Stok, Danusia, ed. Kie?lowski on Kie?lowski. Boston: Faber and Faber, 1993.

Janina Falkowska

Graham Petrie