Synopsis
Following after his renowned War trilogy,
Andrzej Wajda made this provocative film about contemporary youth from a script co-written by
Jerzy Skolimowski. A commentary on the lives of young people who grew up in the new, post-war communist Poland, Wajda chronicles a bohemian milieu of scooters, love, sex and jazz with great vitality and humour. The rebellion the film depicts is social and moral, not political
– and the film angered both Communist and Church authorities by showing its young characters’ explicit rejection of any ideological affinity. With an outstanding cast headed by
Tadeusz Łomnicki, Polish superstar
Zbigniew Cybulski, a young
Roman Polanski and featuring an incredible jazz score by renowned composer
Krzysztof Komeda, this is a key film of the period and in its director’s oeuvre
– and one that has substantially grown in stature over time.