Man of Iron: Andrzej Wajda

I'm always amazed at some of the films that win the Palme d'Or.  Yes, I know that many people have different tastes in film than I do.  But sometimes, it isn't a matter of taste.  It's a matter of craftsmanship.  I have seen several films that have won the Palme d'Or that simply did not deserve to win because they were not well made films.  A Taste of Cherry and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives comes to mind.  And now Andrzej Wajda's Man of Iron joins them.  This is a deliriously bad, insipid, stupid, and boring film.  It's about a journalist who is tasked with going undercover into an anti-Communist organization in Poland in order to provide the Party with information that they can use to slander him.  At least, I think that's what it's about.  Man of Iron is a two and a half hour long film that feels 5 hours long.  Much of the film is comprised of people talking about politics.  Not about political machinations, mind you...but people looking into the camera and discoursing on politics.  This is not how you make a film about politics.  Wajda should have taken a page from Costa-Gavras' book and not made the film a long discourse on politics but instead made the film illustrate their consequences.  Even worse, it frequently fills the film with documentary footage of real life protestors and strikers.  What do they do when confronted with the camera?  They talk about politics, of course! It isn't just the content of the film, either.  It's shot with a color palette dominated by browns and beige.  I had no idea that those two colors could hurt the eyes, but Wajda found a way.  I've seen many of Wajda's other films.  He has proven before that he can make political films which are both intellectually stimulating and exciting to watch.  Go watch Kanal or Ashes and Diamonds to see what I mean.  But skip this film.  PLEASE skip this film.  It is nothing but PAIN.

1/10