THE BIRCH WOOD (BRZEZINA) Tribute to Andrzej Wajda: 40 Years of Filmmaking

In The Birch wood Wajda frees his characters from the weight of historical and social determinism and confronts them with their own individual destinies. The story is misleadingly simple, but deals with basic human emotio.n s and anxieties; it is a story of everyman. After a few years spent in Switzerland s sanitoriums, the tubercular Stanislaw returns to Poland to stay-and to die-with his brother Boleslaw. Stanislaw’s passion and fervent desire win the love of a country girl, whom Boleslaw secretly coveted. Wajda makes the viewer perceive the most routine events as if they were endowed with a deeper sense and a greater intensity. The Birch Wood is a small gem that makes Wajda’s oeuvre even more multidimensional. It is rare that a film so simple is at the same time so rich; that a film so sad is at the same time so joyful -Jacek Fuksiewicz