Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Man of Iron
Directed by Andrzej Wajda
Musicrama, Inc. 1981 DVD/VHS Feature Film
PG-13

Man of Iron, the sequel to Andrzej Wajda's Man of Marble gives an involving overview of Poland's volatile political situation. It covers a time frame from 1968 to the present. In August of 1980, a radio interviewer is sent by Communist Party superiors to Gdansk where he is supposed to talk to the strike leaders and dig up dirt on them (tarnishing their reputation or proving their connections with the CIA or Radio Free Europe).

The hero of the film is a leader in the workers' movement whose ideological conflict with his father, a labor hero, dogs his soul and compels him to acts of courage. Man of Iron convincingly portrays the repressiveness of those in power, clearly reveals how the Catholic Church in Poland stands behind the workers (especially in a moving scene where the strikers pray), and gives a good portrait of class warfare in a Marxist society.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat