MAN OF IRON (CZLOWIEK Z ZELAZA) Tribute to Andrzej Wajda: 40 Years of Filmmaking

Andrzej Wajda’s Man of Iron is more than a film-it’s an event, qualified to rank as the best ‘Film of the Year” by virtue of its theme and the sheer documentation of a news story that made headlines the world over. Man of Iron features the passion and determination of Tomczyk (Jerzy Radziwilowicz), one of the “second line” of workers in the Strike committee headed by Lech Walesa-in a general way, a reference is also made to Walesa himself as a s ymbolic Man of Iron Wajda’s film records history on the run, and it is indeed most astonishing that such a film involving hundreds of people could be conceived and brought to completion in less than eight months. It is a document on the why and how of “Solidarity, ” a testament for and about the Polish people. A tour de force, Man of Iron will be remembered as a film of political consciousness. Wajda has come as close to filming history as any director has ever done in the past -Ron Holloway, Variety