Man of Marble (Czlowiek z Marmuru). 1977. Directed by Andrzej Wajda.

(4/8/01)

Man of Marble contains two stories. One is the rise of a bricklayer turned labor leader in communist Poland. The other is of a young student filmmaker who wants to make a film of his life and tell a story that the powers that be don't want told. The structure reminds me of Citizen Kane.

I've forgotten a lot of this film since I saw it on March 17. I do remember that the labor leader was a kind of wide-eyed innocent who didn't comprehend the corrupt nature of the system he was involved in.

There is a fascinating scene in which the bricklayer and his friend go to see a bureaucrat. The friend goes into the bureaucrat's office and never comes out. The bureaucrat and his secretary try to tell him that he came in alone, but he doesn't buy it. All this may seem ridiculous, but I think the point is that in a communist country an aware person would simply have understood what had happened and stopped asking questions. The hero of Man of Marble doesn't. He keeps on asking questions, even after being warned to stay out of it, and is eventually sent to prison himself.

His story is paralleled by that of the young filmmaker who pokes her nose into a closed case. She is told a couple of times to stop, but she doesn't and in the end she will not be given film or the the use of a camera to complete her project. In her case, I thought to myself, "Well, what did she expect?" She wouldn't listen, but on the other hand she was young and enthusiastic.

Krystyna Janda did very well with a juicy part. She is a tough cookie, a determined young woman who will let nothing stand in her way. She invades people's privacy, attempts to tape them without permission, distracts a museum curator so that her cameraman can take pictures in a storage room which is off limits. Yet, she seems so vulnerable in the scene withher father after she learns that she won't be permitted to complete her film. But she doesn't let the setback get her down and goes off to Gdansk to seek out and talk to her subject. (Why does she do this as an after-thought and one suggested by her father at that?)

Man of Marble was not allowed to be completed as Wajda originally intended and I think that the ending we have is inconclusive. She goes to Gdansk and meets the son of the man she is seeking. He tells her that his father is dead. But then she comes back either the next day or later that same day, meets the son and walks along happily with him. What is that telling us? It could be that the father is not dead after all, that she is going to interview the son, or possibly that she intends to strike up a friendship or romance with the son. The latter interpretation could be a way of signifying that she has decided to choose the present over the past. Anyway, I was left hanging at the end.

This film was quite enjoyable to watch. It kept me interested and I would very much like to see it again. The only films of Wajda I had previously seen were the famous ones from the 1950s--Ashes and Diamonds and Kanal. It was a pleasure to see what a fine film he made twenty years later.