As film nations go, Poland isn't really seen as a powerhouse in cinema. But if one director puts them on the global film map it's Andrzej Wajda. Wajda has been a driving force in Polish film since the 1950's, and has so far directed over fifty features.

He is particularly known for his trilogy of war films, of which Ashes and Diamonds is the final instalment, made in 1958.

It's the 8th of May, 1945, and whilst many countries are celebrating the recent surrender of the Nazis, bringing an end to World War II, the people of Poland still consider themselves far from being out of the woods just yet.

The country is in the midst of a power struggle, which as well as proving to be complicated, it means that their streets are far from safe.

Waiting in a rural area on a warm sunny day are Maciek (Zbigniew Cybulski) and Andrzej (Adam Pawlikowski); they are members of the Home Army and are waiting for party secretary Szczuka (Waclaw Zastrzezynski) to pass by. As he does so they assassinate him, in quite a ferocious manner.

They soon learn however, that they have killed the wrong man, killing two civilians instead. They get another bite of the cherry however when they discover that Szczuka is staying at the hotel Monopol. They turn up there and hatch a plan to murder him in the middle of the night. In the mean time, Maciek intends to let his hair down and enjoy himself a little. Some innocent flirting with a barmaid soon turns into something more, and Maciek the assassin soon begins to question not only his mission, but his own moral compass.

That has to be the ugliest cocktail stick holder I've ever seen!

Considering that this was only Wadja's third film, he directs it with a surprising amount of assuredness and creativity. For many directors, their focus would be that incredible time in history, when Germany finally admits defeat. For Wadja however, this is merely an interesting backdrop for his main focus: that of his character Maciek.

Cybulski is given free rein to create a character that is a hybrid of a slightly unhinged James Dean with the coolness of a young Paul Newman. Maciek is über cool, who likes to drink and play hard. He looks and acts like he'd be more at home being the singer in a really hip band than an assassin.

Over a course of a few hours however, we see his chilled persona crack, revealing a hot bed of vulnerability. Despite the film's historic setting, this is really a film about one man's journey into unknown territory.

The fact that Wajda shot it in black and white somehow validates the historical value more somehow. This Blu-ray version has also been beautifully restored, making it an even more impressive watch.

It's obvious that the director has taken many visual cues from classic Hollywood cinema; he explains, for instance, in an extra on the disc, of his wanting to film closer to the floor so that he could capture the ceilings in the shot, which he borrowed from some of his favourite films. It sounds a somewhat odd technique, but in Wajda's hands it aids the framing of his characters perfectly.

Even today Ashes and Diamonds still has a dense weight about it; often using only music supplied in scene, the film is punctuated by much hardened dialogue. Its title itself is a reference to an obscure poem by 19th Century Polish poet Cyrian Norwid.

In this restored form, the film still manages to resonate as much as it must have done on its first release. If you've never seen a Polish film, then there's really no better place to start than this.