Man of Iron ( Czlowiek z zelaza )

Man of Iron (DVD) (*)

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Original Title: Czlowiek z zelaza
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival
Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain
Oscar Academy Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Subtitles )
Polish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Spanish ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
146 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (2.35:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1981 and produced in:
Poland ( Russia, Eastern Europe )

Directed By:
Andrzej Wajda

Written By:
Aleksander Scibor-Rylski

Actors:
Jerzy Radziwilowicz ..... Maciej Tomczyk
Mateusz Birkut ..... Agnieszka
Krystyna Janda ..... Winkel
Marian Opania ..... Matka Hulrwicz
Irena Byrska ..... Wieslawa Hulewicz
Wieslawa Kosmalska ..... Dzidek
Boguslaw Linda ..... Badecki
Franciszek Trzeciak ..... Z-Ca Szefa
Janusz Gajos ..... Kapt. Wirski
Andrzej Seweryn ..... Grzenda
Marek Kondrat ..... Szef
Jan Tesarz ..... Antoniak
Jerzy Trela ..... Kryska
Krzysztof Janczar ..... Hanka Tomczyk (as Krystyna Zachwatowicz-Wajda)
Krystyna Zachwatowicz ..... Redaktor TV
Boguslaw Sobczuk

Synopsis:

Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda's sequel to his immensely well-received Man of Marble covers some of the same ground: the relationship of labor leaders to their communist political masters and the difficulties the media encounters in covering that story. But it adds an exceptionally timely element: footage from the real-life Solidarity movement strikes led by Lech Walesa that were taking place during the film's production are woven into the dramatic story. There are a few glimpses of Walesa, and he even pops up as a guest at the wedding of the fictional story's hero. That man, Tomczyk, is the son of Birkut, the labor leader profiled in Man of Marble, and he's played by the actor Jerzy Radziwilowicz, who played Birkut in the first film. In Man of Marble, a student filmmaker in late 1970s Poland tried to uncover the story of Birkut, a working-class hero of the '50s who was later politically discredited and killed in a 1970 strike demonstration. Here, Winkiel (Marian Opania), an alcoholic radio journalist, is assigned by the state to cover the rise to prominence of Tomczyk, but with an eye to discrediting him and the Solidarity movement as well. Like The Godfather II, Man of Iron successfully expands on the story of its predecessor while provocatively exploring many of the same issues.

Andrzej Wajda's account of the events at the Gdansk shipyard in the summer of 1980. Winkiel (Marian Opania), a burned-out, alcoholic journalist is assigned to look into the activities of Maciek Tomzyk (Jerzy Radziwilowicz), the charismatic and articulate leader of striking shipyard workers. He turns out to be the son of Mateusz Birkut. The journalist makes use of her own reputation as a youthful radical, implying a solidarity with Tomzyk even as she searches for the dirty laundry the party bosses hope she'll find. But as she interviews the labour leader's associates and his detained wife, Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda), and hears of his travails and of his father's death in the 1970 crackdown against the workers, Opania begins to feel his former idealism returning, forcing her to consider putting her own career at risk to side with the strikers.

A worker becomes a "man of iron" forged by experience, a son comes to terms with his father, a couple fall in love, a reporter searches for courage, and a nation undergoes historic change. In Warsaw in 1980, the Party sends Winkel, a weak, alcoholic TV hack, to Gdansk to dig up dirt on the shipyard strikers, particularly on Maciek Tomczyk, an articulate worker whose father was killed in the December 1970 protests. Posing as sympathetic, Winkel interviews people who know Tomczyk, including his detained wife, Agnieszka. Their narrations become flashbacks using actual news footage of 1968 and 1970 protests and of the later birth of free unions and Solidarity.

This product was added to our catalog on Monday 07 September, 2009.

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