ANDRZEJ WAJDA

French (and Polish) cinema resurrected some of its bete noires in the 1980s, hence the makeover of 'Camille Claudel' (1988) in that decade with Adjani and Depardieu. Camille lived in the shadow of both her brother Paul, the sculpture Auguste Rodin, who purloined all her major art thinking and works. She was committed by her mama to the booby hatch where she festered for years. I remember especially in that decade, and this was just before the Communist implosion, the film 'Danton' by Andrzej Wajda (1983) with Depardieu, especially at the end when Danton is executed, Robespierre covers his head with a cloth. Its almost saying, this is the blackest day of all, darkness at noon, but it is also meant to say that Robespierre implicitly knew he was next. Danton the libertine, Robespierre the thin-lipped, narrow-minded fanatic, engulfed by the forces he set in motion.

"The revolution, like Saturn, devoured its children."

The film was very keen to be seen to be historically accurate, unlike most contemporary films, for there was a reason for accuracy, for history: the Communists had to be destroyed. Competition for power thus meant accuracy and verisimilitude, because both sides realised the extent to which their propaganda would be examined by the other. In this era of post-modernism, knowing the order of regiments at the Battle of Leipzig is unnecessary, nice but not needed.

Also, Wajda has disappeared practically without trace. Even his new film 'Katyn' which one would have expected to be on release in at least the art cinemas in the UK is being virtually ignored although it will be given exposure at the Polish Film Festival. Perhaps we are understanding the true worth now of Wajda's films: nothing more than national curiosities, of interest only to a small fringe of critics and viewers. It also gives us further insight into the 'Cold War' and its legacy.

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