"Man of Marble" *** 1\2 (out of ****)Well, it only took 40 years but here is Poland's answer to "Citizen Kane" (1941), Andrzej Wajda's "Man of Marble" (1977). One of the great filmmaker's masterpieces.
A young director, Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda, who was also in Wajda's "The Counductor" (1980), which I have also reviewed) is doing her thesis film on a Communist hero, Mateusz Birkut (Jerzy Radziwilowicz), whom she finds out was merely a government propaganda tool.
Like "Citizen Kane" the film starts off with archive footage showing us Birkut's great accomplishments. And also like "Kane", Agnieszka must interview those close to Birkut to get his life story creating a constant shift in time frame as the film goes back and forth between modern time and flashbacks.
But enough with the "Citizen Kane" comparisons. "Man of Marble" deserves to be evaluated for its own accomplishments.
I have seen this film a few times now. Each time I watch it, it grows on me. I discover new things. I notice lines of dialogue I hadn't before. I understand the edits better and the transitions.
To me the film is working on several levels. Agnieszka is a young twenty-something year old. She has no memories of Birkut. For her everything is a history lesson. And so we are getting a story of a younger generation going back to its roots. As one character in the film says, it is good for young people to study history so they don't repeat the same mistakes.
This is typical of Andrzej Wajda. His entire career has been to document Polish history and all her struggles. I'm sure he wants the youth of society to be familiar with their country's past.
The film also serves as a strong argument against the Communist government and shows the control they had over society and the censorship placed on a artist.
If I interpret this film and Wajda's work in general correctly it seems Wajda was himself a leftist but disliked the government. His depiction of Birkut is not a negative one. Naive perhaps but not harsh. Birkut is presented as a man who was a true believer. He finds the underlying goals of the party noble. He believes in equality and a workers revolution. But it is the government which has strayed from these ideas and has become full of corruption and greed. We see this over and over again in Wajda's films such as "The Promised Land" (1975) and "Danton" (1983) which was about the aftermath of the French Revolution starring Gerard Depardieu. There the people revolted against the corrupt government while the incoming one became just as corrupt while pretending to work for the people. Wajda seems to be saying with great responsibility comes great corruption. This sounds like the work of Hungarian filmmaker Istvan Szabo. The two men are friends and probably share a similar philosophy since both were artist in Communist countries and probably endured the same censorship.
Birkut is a brick layer who was chosen by a filmmaker, Jerzy Burski (Tadeusz Lomnicki) to star in a propaganda film where he and 4 other men will lay 28,000 bricks in 8 hours. This "collective working" would symbolize Communist strength. Birkut becomes a man of the people. A symbol of the common worker. Even a statue is made in his honor. But as quickly as fame comes his way it is taken away from him.
Agnieszka finds nothing but resistance when trying to make her film. Her supervisor (Boguslaw Sobczuk) does not want her to make the film and each subject she tries to interview is hesitant at first. But the truth starts to slowly reveal itself and when it does Agnieszka is told her film is going over budget and must be scraped. Was she coming too close to making the government look bad?
I found the two lead performances quite effective. Krystyna Janda is extremely beautiful and talented. She presents the character as both pushy and manipulative, going to any lengths to get her interview. But Janda makes the character believable. Many young filmmakers are exactly like that. And to think this was her debut acting performance.
Radziwilowicz on the other hand is much more child-like and innocent. Even when it is clear people are against him he never seems to fully comprehend who his friends and enemies are. In one scene he is brought to testify against a co-worker, Witek (Michal Tarkowski) who may or may not be a spy and may have been responsible for a personal injury Birkut endured. But Birkut, rather than go against a fellow worker, defends the man. He is an innocent bystander caught in a political storm.
If there is one downfall to the film it is that there is nothing really visually striking about the film. I don't find Wajda to be a visual filmmaker. He has not created indelible images. His film are more about ideas. It is rare a film will have both startling images and a message. It is for that reason I consider "Kanal" (1957) to be his best film. I will be sure to include it in my "Masterpiece Film Series". "Man of Marble" is told in a straight forward visual style. But it is still able to incite powerful emotions within the viewer.
I also dislike the musical score which is 1970s disco. What was Wajda thinking? This music is inappropriate for the movie. It doesn't suggest the right emotions. Whenever the music plays it takes us out of our element.
But it is the story which makes the film watchable. It is a powerful look at Communist Poland. The film won the FIPRESCI award at the Cannes Film Festival. Wajda returned to this material in his sequel, "Man of Iron" (1981), dealing with Birkut's son. "Man of Marble" is one of Andrzej Wajda's best films. This would make a wonderful introduction into the great director's work.
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