Long assured that Iron Curtain movies never departed from the iron-clad party line, we're surprised when Maciek, the hip antihero of Ashes and Diamonds turns out to be an anti-Communist assassin. Zbigniew Cybulski could easily have been an international star; he's cooler than any American hipster of that time, and can be described as a cross between Warren Beatty and perhaps Richard Beymer. He's often described as the Polish James Dean, a plug line that robs Zbigniew of his individuality.

In Ashes and Diamonds Cybulski has a style that wouldn't be hip in America for several years. He sports a Jack Kennedy flip in his hair and wears oversized sunglasses, explained in the film as the result of spending months in the Warsaw sewers fighting Nazis - see the Savant review of Kanal. The first American actor to hit a similar 'look' was Jack Lord as Felix Leiter in 1962's Dr. No.

I've seen Cuban movies about counterrevolutionaries threatening Castro's 'paradise', and they were 100% propaganda about CIA scum infiltrating the countryside and murdering and torturing. Even if they were true, they were way too obvious. Ashes and Diamonds is about the brief period when Poland was politically up for grabs. The new Communist government was disorganized and right-wing partisan groups were operating against the new Soviet-influenced rule the same way they'd harried the German invaders.

Ashes and Diamonds favors the Communists, without a doubt. The new minister is seen as a man of courage and honor who sincerely wants to help Poland, and the Mayor's dinner is attended by polite Russian Army representatives, including a smiling female officer. When the police downtown round up some partisan troublemakers, the lead officer treats them with as much TLC as James Dean got from the cops in Rebel Without a Cause. One punk is actually the minister's wayward son.

The complex screenplay blurs the lines between good and bad even further, although the actual anti-Communists are certainly not set in a good light. One fool who helps in the assassination is an aide to the Mayor who ruins his career by getting drunk. The brains behind the killing is a rich aristocrat with a wife who wants to leave Poland as soon as she can. Maciek's immediate partner is an unfeeling zealot.

That leaves Maciek, who starts out as a carefree thrill-killer who hasn't given a serious thought to what he's doing. This don't-care attitude is his best defense against capture, as he doesn't behave furtively and thus doesn't attract the suspicion that his superior does.

It all goes haywire for Maciek when he shoots the wrong man. He's confronted by evidence of the pain he's caused (a rather coincidental witnessing of a fiancée's misery) and even stumbles into a ruined church where his innocent victims lie. He's as cool as a cucumber when he runs into his intended target face-to-face, and finds out what a nice guy he seems to be. But the clincher is his one-night romance with the gorgeous Krystyna in the Metropol hotel. She's gone through the same losses as has everyone else in this sad country, but seems to be looking for some kind of hope. This rekindles Maciek's youthful idealism and throws him off balance. Will he or will he not carry out his wicked mission? Can he keep his cool long enough to do it?

Ashes and Diamonds introduces a lot of characters and often leaves us to figure out who they are, which leads to some confusion when more than two players look too much alike. The noirish photography is excellent for atmosphere - most of the stills of Cybulski show him brandishing a machine gun in daylight but the majority of the film takes place in darkness. Every once in a while director Wajda lets symbolic visuals run away with the picture. When Maciek tries to express his doubts in a ruined church, a large idol of Christ hangs in the foreground - upside down. There's also a tense climax heralded by (literal) fireworks, as the night in question is set aside for celebration of the fall of Nazi Germany.

There's a thoughtful fairness in the symmetry of having both the new Communists and the murdering renegades reminisce about the wartime resistance days - both sides lost most of their friends but remember their comradeship warmly. The message is of course that Poland needs them all to come to the aid of the (Red) party. When the minister makes a speech on the road, he doesn't receive wholesale endorsement from the average working men, who just want security and an end to the murders.

Cybulkski is a fascinating actor to watch, and Ewa Krzyzewska is the kind of soulful beauty who could make any man question his lifestyle. He mostly stayed in Poland, but was also seen in at least one French film, a science fiction movie called La Poupée in 1962. He's also the lead player in the bizarre meta-fantasy The Saragossa Manuscript.

Facets Video's DVD of Ashes and Diamonds is rather better-looking than their concurrent presentation of Kanal. The picture is still contrasty but we see enough to pick out all of the characters and appreciate the moody sets and lighting. The package is a Polart import, and Facets probably had little control over the quality.

One small grief are the subtitles which are removable and easily read. I think they paraphrase or soften some anti-American comments: I distinctly heard the work 'Yankee' more than once when someone was making a disparaging remark, but no negative sentiments show up in the subs. That was the main gripe with the original American release subtitles for Fritz Lang's M - references to Communists were dropped from the text.

Whoever approved the box copy for Ashes and Diamonds grossly distorts the film: "With the battle against the Nazis over, a new struggle emerges: the struggle against the Communists." This wrongly implies that Maciek's right-wing killer squad are freedom fighters. If Facets thinks this is an anti-Communist movie, they're wrong. Or maybe they're just marketing the film the best they can for the 'New Order' in our country.

On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, Ashes and Diamonds rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Good --
Sound: Good --
Supplements: stills, posters
Packaging: Keep case
Reviewed: December 7, 2003