The most ambitious of the widescreen historical epics produced in Poland in the mid-1960s, Ashes is one of director Andrzej Wajda's signature achievements. A faithful adaptation of Stefan Żeromski's 1904 novel about the Napoleonic wars, it was understood at the time of its release to be about much more recent betrayals and defeats. Six decades later, it stands out above all for its dynamic battle sequences, potent depiction of the vagaries of history, and elegiac poetry.