Afterimage

Strzeminski was a compelling and charismatic artist and teacher. Wajda picks up his story in postwar Lodz, where he teaches at the Higher School of Plastic Arts. His ideas, set out in a revolutionary book he has written about art, run headlong into Stalin's dictates on what is good for the masses: social realism and superficial positivism. This is the dynamic that feeds Afterimage's utterly compelling narrative about a highly principled individual who confronts the indifference and, soon enough, anger of the authorities determined to stamp out anyone who questions the party line. A double amputee, Strzeminski is a restless force of nature idolized by the younger generation and the students he teaches. (Toronto International Film Festival)