Young Tadeusz Lomnicki lives in a Warsaw slum during the German occupation. He's involved in a lot of petty thievery with his friends (Zbigniew Cybulski, star of "Ashes and Diamonds"), until one of them is killed trying to steal coal from a moving train. Lomnicki gets a position as an apprentice at a furniture factory, and is eventually introduced to members of the Communist resistance.
Andrzej Wajda's film debut is the first in his trilogy of films about the Polish resistance. It's easiest the least of the three, which is not to say that this is at all a bad film, but more that his skill rose exponentially through the remaining films. This one is very clearly influenced by Italian neorealism and is a lot less plot driven than the other two. A very young Roman Polanski shows up as a member of Lomnicki's resistance cell.
Andrzej Wajda's film debut is the first in his trilogy of films about the Polish resistance. It's easiest the least of the three, which is not to say that this is at all a bad film, but more that his skill rose exponentially through the remaining films. This one is very clearly influenced by Italian neorealism and is a lot less plot driven than the other two. A very young Roman Polanski shows up as a member of Lomnicki's resistance cell.