I have just done a quick search on web and was rather surprised that although there were no shortage of sites dedicated to the Polish auteur Andrzej Wajda, there was barely anything on this film. Is it because it is a 'minor' work in his impressive filmography?
Made in 1981 during the short spell when censorship was being lifted for about 18 months, Man of Iron dealt with a subject that was most sensitive for all communist regimes: that of mass strikes and the way they were being covered by the state media. On the whole, I think the director stroke a great balance between it social background and the personal journey on some of its participants, and a brilliant one on that.
What impresses me the most perhaps was the choice of its leading actors and actress. They, especially the one who played the student demonstrator turned radio technician, and the free trade union activists, have the rare combined quality of looking both intelligent and charming all at the same time that I assume that the Polish system must be more congenial to human race than that of the Chinese ones!
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