Ashes and Diamonds

One of Poland's biggest classics. I'll readily admit I'm not too familiar with Polish cinema (even though my all-time fav was shot there), its closeness to Russian and Eastern-European drama is something that deters me from having a real go at it. Ashes and Diamonds only seemed to underline my bias.

Right after WWII ends, Poland becomes a battlefield where the Polish resistance and Russian soldiers fight each other to take hold of the country. Maciek is tasked to kill a communist leader, but he turns out to be one of the soldiers Maciek fought with during WWII. This puts him in a very awkward position.

The cinematography is decent, though it isn't until the very end that it finally comes into its own. Performances are also decent, but not good enough for a film that relies so much on its characters. The plot is quite slow and there's not that much intrigue, which makes this quite a chore to sit through. Not my cup of tea.