Landscape After Battle

This 1970 film by Andrzej Wajda, based on the writings of Auschwitz survivor Tadeusz Borowski, depicts a man's painful reintegration into society after a brutal war experience. Landscape After Battle opens with the liberation of a German concentration camp by Allied forces at the close of World War II (in an extended, poetic sequence, the prisoners, mostly Polish soldiers, joyously tear down the camp barriers and burn their hated uniforms to the strains of Vivaldi's Four Seasons), before moving on to an American-operated repatriation center, where the Poles continue to endure cramped conditions and constant surveillance. One of them, the reserved, bookish Tadeusz (Daniel Olbrychski), maintains a detached attitude until he meets Nina, a Jewish girl who encourages him to escape with her to the west. It takes a tragic turn of events involving an accidental death, however, to break down the emotional wall Tadeusz has built around himself. Landscape After Battle becomes excessively talky towards the end; moreover, the style, which mixes gritty naturalism with surrealistic elements, never really coheres. Still, this is clearly a seriously intended work, and while not one of Wajda's best films, it shows occasional flashes of brilliance. A strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)