Shadow
1956 · Movie · 98 min. · Poland
The plot consists of a Rashōmon-like investigation into the life of a man found dead after having been hurled from a train. As security agents, policemen and a medical examiner begin to piece together his identity, three accounts emerge: one set during World War II, one in the immediate aftermath of the war and one in contemporary Poland. In each, the victim seems to have been a mysterious, ambiguous presence, of shifting loyalties and suspicious connections, who invariably set himself against the ruling powers of the time. Critics of the day attacked the film for its depiction of a world rife with secret agents and hidden enemies - a favorite Stalinist theme - yet the film seems rather to insist on how heroism or villainy are so often matters of point of view and timing.
Direction Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Cast Zygmunt Kestowicz · Adolf Chronicki · Emil Karewicz · Ignacy Machowski · Tadeusz Jurasz · Boleslaw Plotnicki · Bohdan Ejmont · Marian Lacz · Zdzislaw Szymanski · Halina Przybylska · Antoni Jurasz · Wieslaw Golas · Barbara Polomska · Stanislaw Mikulski · Roman Klosowski
Soundtrack Andrzej Markowski
Screenplay Aleksander Scibor-Rylski
Cinematography Jerzy Lipman
Original title Cien (Shadow)
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Not rated (FilmAffinity)
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