In his important war trilogy, A Generation, Kanal, and Ashes and Diamonds (see September 21), Wajda examined the complex and agonizing role of the individual in time of crisis. In Man of Marble, Wajda addresses the ironic relationship between individual and society in recent Polish history. Student filmmaker Agnieszka chooses for the subject of her first TV documentary the famous bricklaying shockworker of the Fifties, Mateusz Birkut, an official hero whose portrait waved at the time from government buildings and whose statue now gathers dust in the back rooms of a gallery. Also somewhat dusty is the documentary film made about Birkut which Agnieszka uses to lead her in uncovering the fate of the man who began as a peasant socialist and became a victim of the manipulation of human potential and enthusiasm in the post-war industrialization period. Wajda juxtaposes the Fifties and the Seventies, integrating footage from Polish newsreels of 25 years ago and simulated documentary footage of Birkut, with the story of Agnieszka's struggle in 1976 to find and record a story well hidden in that footage. (JB)