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A Generation
With gripping set-pieces, Andrzej Wajda’s debut depicts the establishment of a teenage anti-German resistance group.
Director: Andrzej Wajda
Overview
Wajda's powerful debut - and the first film in his acclaimed 'War Trilogy' - drew on his own wartime memories to depict the establishment of an anti-German resistance group whose members are mostly teenagers (one played by the young Roman Polanski). Gripping set-pieces, including a shoot-out on a spiral staircase, show a confidence belying Wajda's inexperience. The overt pro-Communist propaganda elements can be forgiven as a universal obligation imposed on Polish film-makers at the time.
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