The War Trilogy: Three Films by Andrzej Wajda
The set includes A Generation (Pokolenie, 1955), Kanał (1957), and Ashes and Diamonds (Popiół i diament, 1958). These celebrated films are presented from stunning new 2K restorations, with A Generation being released for the first time ever on Blu-ray.
Details by Film
A Generation
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Kanal
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Ashes and Diamonds
Streaming Options
A Generation
Wajda’s debut feature is a powerful coming-of-age story set amongst the ruins of German-occupied Warsaw. A gang of youths eke out a life of petty crime but are slowly drawn into the Resistance, graduating to a brutal struggle with their Nazi oppressors. Taking inspiration from the Italian neorealist movement, and brilliantly shot by Jerzy Lipman, A Generation changed Polish cinema forever, delivering a devastating portrait of the tragic price of war.
Kanal
During the last days of the Warsaw Uprising a ravaged band of resistance fighters retreat into the city sewers to avoid capture by the Nazis. In this pit of darkness, engulfed by filth, they desperately strive to hang onto their lives, their hopes and their sanity. Controversial for undermining a national myth of heroic sacrifice and full of haunting images, Wajda’s second feature is an unforgettable and harrowing depiction of the horrors of war.
Ashes and Diamonds
On the final day of WWII, a young Polish Resistance fighter is ordered to assassinate a Communist official. Once comrades in arms this triggers a moral dilemma, calling into question all that that was fought for. Defined by an electrifying, iconic performance by Zbigniew Cybulski, this depiction of Poland, poised between the horrors of the recent past and an uncertain future, is arguably Wajda’s masterpiece, and a landmark of international cinema.
Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Supplements
- Archival interview with director Andrzej Wajda speaking about Ashes and Diamonds
- Archival interview with director Andrzej Wajda speaking about A Generation
- Exclusive, newly-filmed introduction for Ashes and Diamonds by critic, curator and scholar Michal Oleszczyk
- Archival interview with director Andrzej Wajda speaking about Kanal
- Exclusive, newly-filmed introduction for A Generation by critic, curator and scholar Michal Oleszczyk
- New and expansive audio commentary for Ashes and Diamonds by producer and film historian Michael Brooke
- New and expansive audio commentary for A Generation by producer and film historian Michael Brooke
- Exclusive, newly-filmed introduction for Kanal by critic, curator and scholar Michal Oleszczyk
- Andrzej Wajda’s newly-remastered and rarely seen early short film While You’re Sleeping (Kiedy ty śpisz, 1953)
- Andrzej Wajda’s newly-remastered and rarely seen early short film: The Bad Boy (Zly chlopiec, 1951)
- New and expansive audio commentary for Kanal by producer and film historian Michael Brooke
- Booklet featuring an essay by Peter Hames
- Andrzej Wajda’s newly-remastered short film Ceramics from Ilza (Ceramika Ilzecka, 1951)
- Booklet featuring an essay by Ewa Mazierska
- Booklet featuring an essay by Tony Rayns