'Ashes And Diamonds' & 'Man Of Iron'

Going through these lists -- particularly the films and books -- you realize how much art from Poland regarding World War II, the Holocaust and post-war politics there's been.

I could review another four or five things I've read or watched the last two weeks that would fit into this theme.

Andrzej Wajda directed both these films. He's regarded as one of the best directors of all time, certainly one of the top three or five in Europe and certainly the best in Poland.

He is known for keeping his finger on the pulse of Polish politics and goings on addressing the Solidarity Movement (Man of Iron) to post-war assassinations, labor unions and coming to grips with whatever split apart their country.

It's a horrid little place despised and invaded by both the Russians and Germans within the span of a year. They fought and killed their neighbors and friends in a sort of self-preservation. Large chunks of their population disappeared in ovens and mass graves, in the swamps and forests, in a matter of three or four years. As much of a set of turdburgers as the Poles were in how the Holocaust went down, they also resemble a bunch of eight-year-old children, who don't know how to take care of themselves.

Fact is, nobody in that country can really trust each other. Wajda's father was killed when the filmmaker was 14 during the Katyn massacre (22,000 Polish prisoners of war were murdered by Russian decree).

A lot of Wajda's films focus on post-war, labor strife as the country attempts to build itself. Even in these cases, there is class warfare as the country tries to transition from an agrarian society into an industry juggernaut considering the size of the country and its location on the outskirts of Europe and Russia. All the while, per the characters in his films, they can't seem to escape the skeletons in the closet. Just can't stop tripping over themselves.