Part 1 of Wajda's trilogy of wartime films, the hopeful one, is set in Wola, a working-class area of Warsaw in 1942, and deals with the graduation of a bunch of semi-delinquent street kids, through individual acts of defiance and courage, into a youth resistance group. The heroism is not simple, neither loyalties nor self-sacrifice are assured, but united they will be. find out more...

The last of Wajda's famous trilogy, the one that signifies despair, has Cybulski, the 'Polish James Dean', as a young fighter no longer killing Germans but instructed to assassinate a recently appointed communist official. His deepening love affair with a hotel barmaid has him starting to question the value of his struggle. Superb. find out more...

An awesome film that probes the conflicts between morality and the law. When is a man merely following orders and when does he become responsible for the consequences of his actions? Using the post-war trials of four German judges accused of legalising Nazi atrocities Kramer creates a fasinating exploration of human responsibility.

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We follow the everyday travails of a group of WW2 French resistance fighters in Marseille, including their engineer leader and a middle-aged woman who sets up anti-German attacks without telling her husband or daughter, as they do battle against the occupying Nazis, collaborators and traitors in their own camp. This tense and atmospheric classic, based partly on Joseph Kessel's novel and partly on Melville's own experiences as a resistance fighter who later escaped France to join the Free French find out more...

A timeless ant-war parable that looks at public reaction when the hair of an American war orphan mysteriously turns green. This makes him an object of ridicule in his small town, where the locals call for the boy's head to be shaved. There is an interesting coda to this wonderful and unusual film: Producer Dore Schary and director Joseph Losey made it for RKO before the politically conservative Howard Hughes took over. Hughes hated the film's pacifist message, and did his best to sabotage it find out more...

Set during WW2; Veronica is madly in love with her fiancé, Boris, who departs for the front to do his patriotic duty. The story unravels to depict a poignant portrayal of blameless individuals doing their best to survive the travails of tragedy and hardship in the face of such an all consuming conflict. The compelling narrative is complemented by stunning black and white cinematography and the film deservedly won the Cannes Palme d'Or in 1958, reintroducing Soviet cinema to the Western world. find out more...