| Brief Description: | Based on the novel by Kazimierz Brandys, Samson (1961) is a profound psychological study of a man who accidentally kills a schoolmate in a brawl and is imprisoned. He is released with the onset of World War II, only to be locked up once more, but in the Warsaw Ghetto. Again he escapes and finds himself trapped, this time in a world of non-Jews, where the threat of capture is ever-present.
The film is a masterpiece. Never before has Wajda revealed such virtuosity. He has not succumbed to the temptation of formal exercise. Far from any baroque mannerism, he says what he has to say firmly, even brutally, while using a minimum of effects, in shades nearly classical. This style present throughout the film reveals a great talent on the threshold of maturity.
Georges Sadoul"Les Lettres Frantaises", Paris, 1964 |
