Promised Land

(Ziemia obiecana)

Based on the 1898 novel by the Nobel laureate Wladyslaw Reymont, the film reveals the city of Łódź in the midst of industrialization. Three men who become partners to build a textile factory offer a microcosm of social classes and ethnic diversity, a neat balance that exists only in fiction. Karol is a Polish nobleman with diminished fortunes; Maks is a German whose father’s old-time mill is failing; Moryc is a Jew who is valued, at times merely tolerated, for his business connections. The three first appear at a sunlit country estate, and even in this washed-out print we can tell that their world of exquisite beauty - cathedral-tall birches, expansive lawns, a huge white manor house - will vanish in the coming political turmoil.
‘’Land of Promise’’ remains a foray into the 19th century, but in spirit it is as political as any of Mr. Wajda’s more pointed films. And if its artistry is finally too bound by the last century, it still bears the signature of a director whose every camera move has something to intrigue us.

Director: Wajda, Andrzej

Screenplay: Andrzej Wajda

Cinematography: Witold Sobocińsik, Edward Kłosiński, Wacław Dybowski

Music: Wojciech Kilar

Film Editor: Halina Prugar, Zifia Dwornik

Principal Cast: Daniel Olbrychski, Wojciech Pszoniak, Andrzej Seweryn, Kalina Jędrusik, Anna Nehrebecka, Bożena Dykiel, Andrzej Szalawski, Stanisław Igar, Franciszek Pieczka, Kazimierz Opaliński, Andrzej Łapicki, Wojciech Siemion, Tadeusz Białoszczyński and others

Runtime: 179 minutes

Release Year: 1975

Genre: Drama