Wallflower Press- the Red and the White

THE RED AND THE WHITE
The Cinema of People’s Poland
Paul Coates

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The Red and the White: The Cinema of People’s Poland takes a fascinating look at the history of post-war Polish cinema, and how it was affected by the political, social and cultural upheavals throughout the period 1947–89. This timely study re-evaluates the legacy of Socialist Realism, the representation of the war, cinematic portrayals of national myth and cultural history, literary adaptation and surrealism, and discourses of exile and national identity. Although paying particular reference to the work of Krzysztof Kieslowski and Andrzej Wajda, this book considers the contribution of a wide range of filmmakers, including Jerzy Skolimowski, Krzysztof Zanussi, Agnieska Holland, Andrzej Munk, Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Wojciech Has and Roman Polanski. The volume also includes unique primary archival research into the role of state-sponsored censorship, and coverage of Polish-Jewish representations in film. Among the many films discussed are A Generation, Eroica, Ashes and Diamonds, Family Life, The Promised Land, The Hour Glass Sanatorium, Hands Up!, Decalogue 8, Europa, Europa and The Double Life of Veronique.

Paul Coates is Reader and Head of the Film Studies Department at the University of Aberdeen. His previous books include The Story of the Lost Reflection (1985), The Gorgon’s Gaze (1991), Film at the Intersection of High and Mass Culture (1994) and Lucid Dreams: The Films of Krzysztof Kieslowski (1999).

2005
280 pages
978-1–904764–26–7 £16.99 (pbk)
978-1–904764–27–4 £45.00 (hbk)

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chapter samples
Preface
Notes towards an Introduction

reviews
‘An important critical history of Polish Cinema that delves deeply into the political context of the films it discusses. Drawn from extensive research in Polish sources, literary expertise and sensitive film analysis, this work will be invaluable to all who wish to understand Poland, its culture and its films … Bookending the study with investigations of Wadja to start and Kieslowski to close makes this work accessible to a broad audience whose acquaintance with Polish film has begun with its most famous filmmakers.’
Maureen Turim, University of Florida

‘Paul Coates’ new monograph, The Red and the White, is a fascinating account of the cinema of ‘People’s Poland’, which encompasses the years between 1948 and 1989, that is, the inception dates of Polish Stalinism and capitalism.
Coates is a film professor who is an expert on European cinemas, especially Polish and German. As in his other books, here he provides an insightful viewpoint on Polish cinema of this period and the intricacies of its politics and aesthetics. His understanding of Polish culture and history is truly astounding, supported by years of reading and researching the minutiae of Polish idiosyncracies in Polish archives and libraries.
Professor Coates deals with a number of difficult areas, not only in Polish cinema but also that of East Central Europe generally. To begin with, he covers the problems of differences in terminology between Eastern Europe, Central Europe, East Central Europe and Europe in general, the problematic and tricky methodological area which later influences the way the historical and artistic phenomena are analysed. Then, he covers the convolutions of Polish history in a sophisticated way that attests to his in-depth knowledge of this country. Finally, in six chapters, he concentrates on such intricate issues as Socialist Realism, censorship, heroism, masculinity, Polish-Jewish relationships and the anti-political cinema of the late 1980s. To illustrate his dense theoretical arguments about Polish cinema of People’s Poland, he chooses the selected Andrzej Wajda, Jerzy Skolimowski, Krzysztof Kieslowski and the films of many lesser-known directors.
The Red and the White will truly astonish both English-speaking and Polish-speaking readers with the abundance of historical fact, profound understanding of Polish cinema and its analysis in the context of Europe, European cinema, philosophical thought and contemporary literary and cultural criticism. Likewise, readers interested in general cultural and literary theories can indulge in following a complex and brillian analysis of cultural phenomena in Eastern Europe of the Socialist era, little understood by contemporary Western readers.
In short, A landmark work for Polish cinema!’
Janina Falkowska, University of Western Ontario

‘While “People’s Poland” (Poland between 1945 and 1989) still awaits proper historical evaluation, its cinema provides one valid angle from which to look at the period. Paul Coates’s book paradoxically gains authority by merit of being a foreigner’s take on the subject. Albeit hermetic at times, this painstakingly researched study maintains a suitable critical distance. He centres things on the duality of a cinema torn between the aesthetic and the political, a defining characteristic of all art produced in a totalitarian state. Coates contends that Poland, however, represents a special case due to its ambiguous affinity with socialist ideology. Perpetually shifting between half-hearted compliance and covert resistance. People’s Poland was never fully “red” – as the country’s red-and-white flag symbolically bears witness. “Is the flag’s duality the emblem of a split national consciousness?” Coates asks, probing the question of Polish national identity by examining the evolution of its cinema in relation to the country’s post-war political history. From Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds to Kieslowski’s Three Colours trilogy, he explores the quintessential themes of Polish cultural mythology: the heritage of WWII, the Jewish question, romanticism, heroism, “Hamletism”, and “moral unrest”. He also gives a full account of the mechanisms of social censorship. The Red and the White certainly offers a rich read for cinephiles, but it is also an ambitious attempt to understand the still underexplored psychological legacy of communism in Poland.’
Eliza Subotowicz, Film Comment