On the last day of World War II, Home Army resistance fighter Maciek (Zbigniew Cybulski) is under orders to kill a local communist official. Over the course of one night, he becomes more ambivalent towards his duty. Cybulski imbued the historical film with a modern sensibility—he refused to wear period costume, and instead showed up to set wearing his own jeans and iconic dark glasses. With its stylized black & white imagery, the film captures the disarray of a country on the brink of a new reality after the war. Ashes and Diamonds is regarded as one of the greatest Polish films of all time, and the masterpiece of director Andrzej Wajda.

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Virtual Film Picks are inspired by the in-person Friday Night Films at the Wende program series. This selection is part of a curated list of weekly movie suggestions that can be watched at home, in conjunction with #WendeOnline.