( 私淑するアンジェイ・ワイダ監督へ
貴方の映画のなかで何度も描かれたワルシャワ蜂起の悲劇、
そこに込められた憤激と無念の思いは私の青春をわし掴みにして
放さなかった。貴方と貴方の同胞の熱い涙を私は自分自身のもの
として４０年があたかも劫火のように過ぎてしまった ）

＊そひはてて：ずっと離れずに付きそって
＊たまゆら：ほんのわずかの間
＊will-o'-the-wisp ：沼沢地などに現れる不思議な光、きつね火、鬼火

Dear Mr. Wajda,

My youth, though vain and futile,
Was blessed with Ashes and Diamonds,
The anguish, the hope of the Country of the Crowned-Eagle.

Mr. Wajda's film  "Ashes and Diamonds" has been my bible as a
drama director. Its influence was obvious even in my first costume
drama " Nemuri Kyoshiro ". One of my old friends who studied cinema
at a university course once cynically spat out " Oh, you like such
romantic melodrama ", but his remark didn't affect my conviction
a bit. It was amazing Mr. Wajda could make such a fresh and innovative
movie under the communist regime. 34 years after Ashes and Diamonds,
he made The Crowned-Eagle Ring referring to the same theme, but this
time, in entire political freedom. It was a powerful film and I could
understand what he really wanted to say-his vindictive rage against the
Russians who coldly watched the Polish resistant troops be
massacred by Nazis and later took over the country.

I met him personally on April 28, 1998 at Krakow. Though he understood
English to a certain extent, our conversation was carried out in Polish-
English interpretation. When I asked him how he compared the two
above-mentioned films that had been made under completely different
circumstances, he answered a little angrily  "The governmental
restriction has nothing to do with the quality of any film ". Later, my
interpreter consoled me saying that Mr. Wajda must have been irritated
that the Polish public were not enthusiastic about his films any more and
The Crowned-Eagle Ring was not a great hit in Poland.
Time really passes so quickly !