"Nevertheless, in the theatre, and in the cinema, the contemporary reality of Poland has been represented only to a minuscule degree in the last 12 years"
About this Quote
The timeframe matters. “The last 12 years” reads like a deliberate audit of the post-1989 era, when Poland’s political transformation promised not only new freedoms but new stories. Under communism, the indirect language of allegory and historical costume could be a survival tactic and a form of resistance. After the system cracks, that old aesthetic can harden into habit: artists keep speaking in coded past tense even when the present is suddenly available. Wajda, who built his reputation confronting national trauma and political power, is warning that freedom can produce a different kind of silence - not imposed from above, but sustained by taste, funding, and the desire to look “European” rather than provincial.
His intent is also professional and strategic: a director lobbying for relevance. If theatre and cinema aren’t registering “contemporary reality,” they risk becoming heritage industries, beautifully crafted but socially inert. Wajda is arguing that Polish modernity - its winners, its dispossessions, its moral whiplash - deserves to be seen straight on, not only remembered through the comfortable fog of history.
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Wajda, Andrzej. (2026, January 17). Nevertheless, in the theatre, and in the cinema, the contemporary reality of Poland has been represented only to a minuscule degree in the last 12 years. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/nevertheless-in-the-theatre-and-in-the-cinema-the-42651/
Chicago Style
Wajda, Andrzej. "Nevertheless, in the theatre, and in the cinema, the contemporary reality of Poland has been represented only to a minuscule degree in the last 12 years." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/nevertheless-in-the-theatre-and-in-the-cinema-the-42651/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Nevertheless, in the theatre, and in the cinema, the contemporary reality of Poland has been represented only to a minuscule degree in the last 12 years." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/nevertheless-in-the-theatre-and-in-the-cinema-the-42651/. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.
