Man of Marble

Man of Marble
Man of Marble
	Polish poster advertising the film
Directed by	Andrzej Wajda
Written by	Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski
Starring	Krystyna Janda; Jerzy Radziwiłowicz; Tadeusz Łomnicki;
Cinematography	Edward Kłosiński
Edited by	Halina Prugar-Ketling
Music by	Andrzej Korzyński
Release date	25 February 1977;
Running time	165 minutes
Country	Poland
Language	Polish

Man of Marble (Polish: Człowiek z marmuru) is a 1977 Polish film directed by Andrzej Wajda. It chronicles the fall from grace of a fictional heroic Polish bricklayer, Mateusz Birkut (played by Jerzy Radziwiłowicz), who became the Stakhanovite symbol of an over-achieving worker, in Nowa Huta, a new (real life) socialist city near Kraków. Agnieszka, played by Krystyna Janda in her first role, is a young filmmaker who is making her diploma film (a student graduation requirement) on Birkut, whose whereabouts seem to have been lost two decades later. The title refers to the propagandist marble statues made in Birkut's image.^[1]

Man of Marble reflects director Wajda's emerging hostility to the Stalinist cultural establishment and its oppressive restrictions on artistic expression. The film's plot foretells the Lenin Shipyard strike of 1980 and the rise of the Solidarity Movement.^[2]

^ Niemtz and Steinberg, 2016: “The film tells the story of a ‘model’ worker, bricklayer Mateusz Birkut, during the 1950s, shown through the investigative lens of a young female reporter, Agnieszka.”
^ Niemitz and Steinberg, 2016: "The mid-1970s also witnessed a change in Wajda's attitude towards the Stalinist establishment...his first 'anti-Stalinist' film...presciently anticipates the future development of the Solidarity union movement."

[1] Niemtz and Steinberg, 2016: “The film tells the story of a ‘model’ worker, bricklayer Mateusz Birkut, during the 1950s, shown through the investigative lens of a young female reporter, Agnieszka.”

[2] Niemitz and Steinberg, 2016: "The mid-1970s also witnessed a change in Wajda's attitude towards the Stalinist establishment...his first 'anti-Stalinist' film...presciently anticipates the future development of the Solidarity union movement."

[1]

[2]