''Samson'' is a 1961 Polish film directed by

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...

that uses

art house An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily ...

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

to tell a story about

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...

. Wajda's

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

film alludes to the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

story of

Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...

, who had supernatural physical strength. But unlike the Biblical character, Wajda's Samson has great emotional strength.

Plot

A dark

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can be ...

film, ''Samson'' follows its

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

(Serge Merlin) from an

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

private school to a prison, then into a

Jewish ghetto In the Jewish diaspora, a Jewish quarter (also known as jewry, ''juiverie'', ''Judengasse'', Jewynstreet, Jewtown, or proto-ghetto) is the area of a city traditionally inhabited by Jews. Jewish quarters, like the Jewish ghettos in Europe, were ...

, and finally over the ghetto wall to the outside world. Wajda uses this journey as a means to explore

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

and the weighty issues facing the Jewish people. The construction of the Jewish ghetto is communicated through a single, stationary shot. A shabbily dressed mass is clustered in front of the camera, and a pair of hands with a hammer and nails secures one board at a time, until the shot of people has been replaced with a shot of a wall. Through minimalism and simplicity, Wadja establishes a separation between the world of the impoverished Jew and the world outside the ghetto. The viewer looking on as the ghetto walls block the view of what happening inside, is made to feel detached from the horror inside. One question Wajda raises is that of Jewish solidarity and the guilt of being saved while one's brethren are suffering. Samson escapes from the Jewish ghetto but immediately wants to return. Although he could enjoy a comfortable life of cocktails and women, he'd rather be in the ghetto, collecting corpses off the streets. Samson argues that his place is with the Jews, that he should suffer alongside them. A fake-blond beauty offers a different take. She confides to Samson that she's Jewish and has been concealing her roots in order to avoid the ghetto. Although she argues passionately, Samson's emotional strength inevitably inspires her to accept her fate as a Jew. When Samson is bruised and exhausted, lying on the ground, he is encouraged by a close friend who says, "one man can suffer such blows and rise again." For Wajda, this is the greatness displayed in Jewish history. Samson is a scrawny, haggard young man, who says very little and might almost border on boringly average; but he has the ability to rise again despite any blow, proving his strength of spirit.

Production

Of ''Samson'', Wajda wrote,

Reception

Georges Sadoul " Les Lettres Françaises",

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, 1964 "In its first part, 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." Konrad Eberhardt "Film",

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

, September 1961 No attempt has been made to discuss this new offer, so different from Wajda's previous works, in terms of creative, rather than propaganda merits, or the author's intentions and the values which the film contributes to our cinematography.

Cast

Serge Merlin Serge Merlin (born Serge Merle; 29 December 1932 – 16 February 2019) was a French actor. He became internationally known for his role in the film ''Amélie ''Amélie'' (also known as ''Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain''; ; en, The F ...

... Jakub Gold *

Alina Janowska Alina Janowska (16 April 1923 – 13 November 2017) was a Polish actress. She appeared in more than 35 films and television shows between 1946 and 2017. Biography Janowska was born in 1923 in Warsaw into a wealthy family. She was arrested ...

... Lucyna *

Elżbieta Kępińska Elżbieta Kępińska (born 5 April 1937) is a Polish film actress. She has appeared in more than 20 films and television shows since 1960, including ''Samson'' (1961), ''Grzech Antoniego Grudy'' (1975) and ''Dotkniecie nocy'' (1962). She was mar ...

... Kazia, Malina's Niece *

Jan Ciecierski Jan Ciecierski (8 March 1899 – 20 February 1987) was a Polish actor. He appeared in more than 35 films and television shows between 1938 and 1981. Selected filmography * ''Warsaw Premiere'' (1951) * ''Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šī ...

... Józef Malina * Tadeusz Bartosik ... Pankrat * Władysław Kowalski ... Fialka *

Irena Netto Irena Netto (19 October 1899 – 13 March 1992) was a Polish actress. She appeared in 34 films between 1947 and 1969. Selected filmography * ''Farewells'' (1958) * ''Samson'' (1961) * ''Rozstanie ''Rozstanie'' (English title: ''Goodbye ...

... Jakub's Mother *

Beata Tyszkiewicz Beata Maria Helena Tyszkiewicz (born 14 August 1938) is a retired Polish actress and TV personality. Career Beata Tyszkiewicz has worked mostly on the big screen but acted in several French TV movies, becoming famous through her portrayal of d ...

... Stasia * Jan Ibel ... Genio * Bogumil Antczak ... Prisoner *

Edmund Fetting Edmund Andrzej Fetting (10 November 1927, in Warsaw, Poland – 30 January 2001 there) was a Polish film and theatrical actor and occasional singer. Fetting was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1980) and the Gold C ...

... Guest at Lucyna's Party * Roland Głowacki ... Guest at Lucyna's Party * Andrzej Herder ... Gestapo Officer * Zygmunt Hübner ... Gestapo Officer * Zofia Jamry ... Woman Blackmailing Malina

Awards

*Nominated for a

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguis ...

in 1961 at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

Notes

References

* * *

External links

* *
The Academy's profile of Wajda
{{Samson 1961 films 1961 drama films Polish avant-garde and experimental films 1960s coming-of-age drama films Films based on the Hebrew Bible Films about Jews and Judaism Films directed by Andrzej Wajda Polish black-and-white films Films set in Poland Holocaust films 1960s Polish-language films Samson 1960s avant-garde and experimental films Polish drama films