GENERATION

Poland, 1955, 96 minutes, Black and white.
Directed by Andrzej Wajda.

Generation is the first film directed by Andrzej Wajda. It is the first in what became a trilogy: Kanal, Ashes and Diamonds.

It is set in occupied Warsaw, 1942. It shows three young men at the opening of the film, one is lost and another killed by a German sentry. The film follows the story of the third boy who works as an apprentice, finds himself involved in the Underground, falls in love with a leader, helps in the uprising, and becomes a leader in the Youth Fighter group. It is the story of the coming of age of a young man in a war situation.

Wajda, re-creates Warsaw in the '40s, the atmosphere of war, the daily life of the people. His style is a blend of the poetic and the realistic. It is also a tribute to the men of the generation who emerged from the war and became Polish leaders.

1. An interesting and enjoyable film? Its tribute to the Poles during World War Two? The making of a generation?

2. Black and white photography? Poetic realistic style? The focus on characters? The focus on Warsaw? The experience of war? Musical score?

3. The film as a tribute? A memoir of the early 1940s? The occupied city? Crises? The emergent leadership? The way of life?

4. How well did the film create its setting? The visual impact of the city? The outskirts of the city? The German occupation? hardships? occupations?

5. The focus on the three boys? The knife game? The train game? The losses and deaths? The deaths of a generation? The focus on Stach? His bonds with the other two? His having to stand on his own feet?

6. The audience sharing the experience of Stach? The experience of the war? His background? Seeking work? Apprentice in the woodwork shop? The making of equipment for the Germans? The growing number of friends? The discovery of the weapons? The Underground Resistance? His joining the group? The meeting with Dorota? Stach and his motto: Learn where you can? The ghetto uprising? The escape of the fighters, the sewers? Dorota’s being arrested? Stach becoming leader? His forming a group? His emergence as the fighter and leader?

7. Dorota and her leadership of the group, relationship with Stach, their falling in love, her arrest?

8. The gallery of minor characters and their being well sketched? The watchman (from the Czar's army)? Stach's mother and her inability to cope? The Jew from the ghetto? His being turned away from his friend's place? The boys and their fighting?

9. The picture of the Germans? Occupation? Oppression of the Poles?

10. Jasio and his wariness, forthrightness? Anxiety? Portrait of youth?

11. Themes of war? Ordinary people caught up in a war situation? Crises? Emerging from the crises?