Kanał

"Kanal" is a Polish film directed by Andrzej Wajda, his second effort after his first war film "A Generation" is an astonishing portrayal of the hardships of Polish resistance fighters during the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II.

Set in in the 56th day of the Warsaw uprising, 43 soldiers both men and women are forced to give up their positions in the district of Warsaw being overwhelmed by the Nazis.

 Rather than surrender their positions they were given orders to crawl under the city sewers (hence the title) and make their way downtown for safety.

Commander Zadra (Wienczysław Glinski) hopes to get back at the Nazis but he must first lead his men in crossing the dark sewers.

 Zadra was also hoping to bring the tenacious but beautiful Daisy (Teresa Izewska) to lead them out of the sewers but she instead chooses to stay behind and help her lover Korab (Tadeusz Janczar) who was also injured earlier in a shootout with the Nazis. Lieutenant Wise(Emil Karewicz) who was with the detachment was also hoping to catch up with Zadra and his men along with his lover Halinka and the musician Michal (Vladek Sheybal). 

This film is probably one of the best and often overlooked war films I have seen, it is truly agonizing to watch as they suffer slowly beneath the suffocating labyrinth of the sewers. I find it amazing how Wajda was able direct the actors and shoot with almost no light and the water waist deep, you can actually feel the agonizing heat and filth of the sewer just by looking at the actors facial expressions. Credit is also due to the screenwriter Jerzy Stefan Stawiński who also took part of the uprising and experienced first hand the horror of having to make your way into the dark sewer while the Nazis were up in the streets terrorizing the remaining population. 

 

The scene that stuck with the the most is watching the soldier Slim diffuse the grenades that the Nazis setup along the sewer exits, I couldn't help but cover my eyes as this agonizing scene plays out because we know that something bad was about to happen but we were still hoping that this bloody scene is not shown but the director deemed it necessary. Only a man with gusto could have filmed that scene and Wajda made a brilliant film so tragic and haunting I couldn't wait to show it to other people. It should be mentioned as one of the greatest war films ever made. 

Grade: A+