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The action of Ashes and Diamonds takes place over the course of a single far from ordinary day: the 8th of May 1945, the final day of the Second World War. However, for Andrzej and Maciek, two soldiers in the Polish Home Army, who have been ordered to assassinate a leading Communist official, the hostilities are not over. As the pair wait for their target in a busy hotel, Maciek, who has seen too much killing, falls for a beautiful young barmaid and begins to long for a normal life. Played by the brilliant thirty-year-old actor, Zbigniew Cybulski, Polands answer to Marlon Brando and James Dean, Maciek is one of the great tragic heroes in post-war European cinema; a figure who spoke to both the Poles who fought (and died) during the war and the nations increasingly rebellious youth in the late 1950s, when the film was released. At the same time, in this remarkably complex portrait of a country divided against itself, Wajda extends an equal compassion to Szczuka, the target of the assassination attempt. He is a decent, sympathetic man; a veteran of two wars who wishes only to be reunited with his son, who is now a POW. For all its moment of tenderness and humour, the keynote of Ashes and Diamonds is one of bitter, even savage irony. This is evidenced in the assassination scene in which Szczka dies in his killers arms, the sound of gunfire drowned out by the fireworks set off to mark the official beginning of peace; or the remarkable finale, as Maciek staggers badly wounded through the city dump. Arrow Films previously released Ashes and Diamonds in a box set alongside Wajdas two earlier features, A Generation (1955) and Kanal (1956), which are often collectively described as the directors War Trilogy. Arrows new dual-format edition offers an improvement on that previous release and is a must-have for any serious cineaste. This is a stunning transfer, with well translated, easy to read subtitles. The blu-ray disc in particular brings out the best in the films moody black and white photography, expressionist sets and Wajdas strikingly baroque compositions. An informative booklet and a video introduction by the director, now well into his 80s, help put the film into it proper historical and political context and explain its battles with the censors and its continuing place at the centre of Polish film culture. Wajda is one of the finest directors ever to emerge from Europe and he has made more than his share of masterpieces: Kanal, Landscape After Battle, Man of Marble, Danton and even the more recent Katyn. However, for many, Ashes and Diamonds remains not only his, but also his countrys greatest film; this new edition makes it all the more easy to understand why.