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Landscape after Battle: After the premiere
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
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The film was received with great dislike because the nationalists were already waiting for my next film, and after Ashes they had this one to which they could easily take exception. It showed the paradoxical situation in which people found themselves after the war, where people didn't have a straightforward choice of where to return. To Poland. But it wasn't the Poland to which they would have wanted to return, and this sad and bitter truth is expressed in this film. So again, there was a big outcry about what this was all about, how could anyone make such a film showing this falsehood, that Poles knew from the beginning that their proper place was on the side of the Soviets. Nevertheless, despite these attacks the film was shown in cinemas although as I recall it wasn't shown at many festivals, not that I wanted this. I cared more about the film having been made at all. It was made during the wretched, poor period of our cinematography when it wasn't easy to make something in Poland that touched on our painful issues.

A przyjęcie trafiło właśnie na wielka niechęć, bo grupa nacjonalistyczna już czekała na następny mój film i po Popiołach doczekała się znowu filmu, który... do którego mogła się z łatwością przyczepić. No bo pokazała... bo pokazała całą tą, że tak powiem, paradoksalność tej powojennej sytuacji, gdzie ludzie nie mają jednoznacznego wyboru, że gdzie mają wracać? No, do Polski. No ale to nie jest ta Polska, do której oni by chcieli wrócić. I ta smutna i gorzka prawda została w tym filmie powiedziana. No i znowu podniósł się wielki raban. Że jak to jest? Jak można robić takie filmy? Że to jest film, który pokazuje nieprawdę, że to Polacy jakby od samego początku wiedzieli, że nasza sprawa słuszna jest po stronie sowieckiej. No ale mimo ataków tego filmu, film przeszedł przez ekrany, nie był specjalnie pokazywany, jeżeli dobrze pamiętam, na jakiś festiwalach, ale mnie na tym nie zależało. Zależało mi najbardziej na tym, że film w ogóle powstał. Powstał w takich właśnie podłych, marnych czasach naszej kinematografii, kiedy niełatwo było coś zrobić w Polsce takiego, co by było filmem dotykającym naszych bolesnych spraw.

Polish film director Andrzej Wajda (1926-2016) was a towering presence in Polish cinema for six decades. His films, showing the horror of the German occupation of Poland, won awards at Cannes and established his reputation as both story-teller and commentator on Poland's turbulent history. As well as his impressive career in TV and film, he also served on the national Senate from 1989-91.

Listeners: Jacek Petrycki

Cinematographer Jacek Petrycki was born in Poznań, Poland in 1948. He has worked extensively in Poland and throughout the world. His credits include, for Agniezka Holland, Provincial Actors (1979), Europe, Europe (1990), Shot in the Heart (2001) and Julie Walking Home (2002), for Krysztof Kieslowski numerous short films including Camera Buff (1980) and No End (1985). Other credits include Journey to the Sun (1998), directed by Jesim Ustaoglu, which won the Golden Camera 300 award at the International Film Camera Festival, Shooters (2000) and The Valley (1999), both directed by Dan Reed, Unforgiving (1993) and Betrayed (1995) by Clive Gordon both of which won the BAFTA for best factual photography. Jacek Petrycki is also a teacher and a filmmaker.

Tags: Ashes, Poland, Landscape after Battle

Duration: 1 minute, 30 seconds

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008