Two things I don’t delude myself into knowing much about are the French Revolution and the communist takeover of Poland after Solidarity, and according to everything I know about this fantastic film from displaced Polish master Andrzej Wajda, working in France as part of a co-production with Poland, that’s neither here nor there. I’m sure it helps to know the basic fabric of the Revolution, and how a liberal filmmaker might resent communism in his home country, but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that there’s metaphors abound in Wajda’s thrilling rendering of the Terror, and all the political squabbling and backstabbing that went along with it. And even if you can’t figure it out, Criterion’s few bonus features (though no commentary track) will fill in the basic specifics, the rest is just the pure joy of watching a great filmmaker, great actors (Wojciech Pszoniak as Robespierre, Gerard Depardieu as Danton), and a larger than life subject, spring to fruition in vibrancy.