Polish Film Academy LANDSCAPE AFTER BATTLE

Polish Film Academy — Wajda. Director of the painting PAINTING AND VISUAL TRADITION — PICTURE IN MOTION Landscape after the battle (1970) lecture: dr Joanna Preizner

The script “Landscape after the Battle” was based on the themes of Tadeusz Borowski's camp stories, especially “The Battle of Grunwald”. The austere, ascetic prose of the author of “Farewell to Mary” in the perspective of Andrzej Wajda was enriched with romantic metaphors with a mullet - a violinist at the head and artistically tasted landscapes. The creator of the “Channel” once again gave vent to the tendency towards painterly visionism, known even from “Ashes”. Critics even compared some of the shots from “Landscape...” to the pictorial boom of “Anheli” Słowacki. Wajda's film proves that the director looked at Borowski's harrowing lyrics from a distance. He chose only some elements from their emotional climate. He directed, first of all, a film about love, which in the “Battle of Grunwald” is treated marginally. He also gave a moving portrait of a man with a psyche ravaged by war, who is painstakingly relearning the elemental of human feelings. The film takes place in a former concentration camp in Germany. Although liberated by the Americans, it still exists, only on different principles. There is no longer strict discipline, slave labor, terror. Among the recent prisoners is Tadeusz, a young Pole, who writes poems and devours books. Away from compatriots who, having barely regained their freedom, expose the worst national vices. Every now and then political quarrels break out, envy is discouraged. Staying in the camp changed their views little. The greatest desire of all, however, is to eat to the fullest. They satisfy hunger greedily and greedily, violating all norms of culture. One day, women come to the camp. Tadeusz meets a Polish Jewish woman, Nina, who is outraged by the vulgarity and gluttony of local men. She persuades the young poet to run away with her. Thaddeus, however, hesitates. Years of camp life have made him feel afraid of a normal life. They begin to make plans for the future, but the girl is accidentally shot by an American sentry. After a hurrapatriotic spectacle staged on the anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, Tadeusz decides to return to Poland.

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