“Ashes and Diamonds”
Andrzej Wajda’s 1958 landmark is presented in a sparkling restoration that impeccably preserves every detail and nuance of cinematographer Jerzy Wojcik’s shimmering black and white imagery and deep-focus compositions. The story of an anti-communist resistance fighter undergoing a crisis of conscience at the end of World War II, “Ashes and Diamonds” is a masterful example of the intimate expressing the epic, as Wajda, without strain or pretension, uses his modest character study to explore his country’s identity both in the time during which the movie takes place and the time in which it was made. The film is a master class in visual storytelling, with one scene after another in which Wajda takes what could have been routine dialogue and expository scenes and enlivens them with blocking that’s both graphically dynamic and illustrative of the characters’ inner tensions (he’s particularly adroit at using mirrors and other reflective surfaces to expand the physical and emotional boundaries of the frame). Criterion’s Blu-ray contains an array of first-rate extra features that deepen the viewer’s comprehension of Wajda’s techniques, from interviews with Wajda and his assistant director to vintage making-of footage and a commentary and visual essay by scholar Annette Insdorf.
