This is a movie that can be appreciated more than enjoyed. It is a story dating to September, 1944, at the end of the Warsaw uprising. A company of Polish resistance fighters is followed in their last hours. As the company walks by the camera in an initial scene the voice-over is, "These are the heroes of the tragedy. Watch them closely, for these are the last hours of their lives." This is a risky way to start the movie, since it takes away any sense of hope that might be had for these people, but the effect is to accentuate identification with their fate.
The film is divided into two parts, the first part taking place in a bombed out house on the outskirts of Warsaw. The fighters know their fate if they stay there and fight against the overwhelming German forces. The leaders are agreeable to fighting to the end, but the command comes from headquarters to retreat. The retreat is to be through the sewers to a liberated part of the the city. The second part of the movie details the slog through the noisome cavernous sewers. If this sounds rather grim, be advised that it is. Many times throughout the ordeal I kept saying to myself, "Just hang in there, you can get through this." Dante's Inferno came to my mind before the sensitive musician in the company delivered the lines, "Thither we come, and there down in the moat I saw a people smothered in a filth that out of human privies seemed to flow."
So, what are the rewards of seeing this through? For me there were two: learning a bit of history and appreciating the film as a work of art. From having viewed director Wajda's war trilogy, "A Generation," "Kanal," and "Ashes and Diamonds," as well as the later "Katyn," I have learned a tiny bit about Polish history. More than I would probably have known otherwise, since I doubt that I would have sought this information out on my own. It is estimated that over 200,000 people lost their lives in the Warsaw uprising, so Wajda has done his part in insuring that this grave event will not be lost in the mists of time.
As a piece of film-making, this ranks highly. I am not sure whether the filming in the sewers was done on sets or in actual sewers. I suspect the former, but the result seems real enough and I have to believe that getting the lighting right was a challenge. Wajda takes full advantage of black and white photography to accentuate faces and silhouetted figures, capturing the emotions of the characters as well as their claustrophobic conditions.
When the unrelenting bleakness started to seem overplayed and onerous, I reflected on the fact that I was getting about a 0.001% hint of the real experience.
The Criterion Collection DVD provides an excellent print, especially given that this film is over fifty years old. The DVD extras are well worth a watch. There is a half hour interview with Wajda and another half hour interview, conducted by Wajda, with Warsaw uprising survivor Jan Nowak-Jezioranski. This latter interview is informative, offering some details on the complexity of the big picture, like how the Soviets halted their advance toward Berlin in order to let the Germans finish off the Poles, paving the way for Soviet post-war control. But the delay prevented the Russians from capturing Berlin before the Allies. I wish there had been more background details in the actual film, like just where the company was initially and how far away from their destination they were.
The film is divided into two parts, the first part taking place in a bombed out house on the outskirts of Warsaw. The fighters know their fate if they stay there and fight against the overwhelming German forces. The leaders are agreeable to fighting to the end, but the command comes from headquarters to retreat. The retreat is to be through the sewers to a liberated part of the the city. The second part of the movie details the slog through the noisome cavernous sewers. If this sounds rather grim, be advised that it is. Many times throughout the ordeal I kept saying to myself, "Just hang in there, you can get through this." Dante's Inferno came to my mind before the sensitive musician in the company delivered the lines, "Thither we come, and there down in the moat I saw a people smothered in a filth that out of human privies seemed to flow."
So, what are the rewards of seeing this through? For me there were two: learning a bit of history and appreciating the film as a work of art. From having viewed director Wajda's war trilogy, "A Generation," "Kanal," and "Ashes and Diamonds," as well as the later "Katyn," I have learned a tiny bit about Polish history. More than I would probably have known otherwise, since I doubt that I would have sought this information out on my own. It is estimated that over 200,000 people lost their lives in the Warsaw uprising, so Wajda has done his part in insuring that this grave event will not be lost in the mists of time.
As a piece of film-making, this ranks highly. I am not sure whether the filming in the sewers was done on sets or in actual sewers. I suspect the former, but the result seems real enough and I have to believe that getting the lighting right was a challenge. Wajda takes full advantage of black and white photography to accentuate faces and silhouetted figures, capturing the emotions of the characters as well as their claustrophobic conditions.
When the unrelenting bleakness started to seem overplayed and onerous, I reflected on the fact that I was getting about a 0.001% hint of the real experience.
The Criterion Collection DVD provides an excellent print, especially given that this film is over fifty years old. The DVD extras are well worth a watch. There is a half hour interview with Wajda and another half hour interview, conducted by Wajda, with Warsaw uprising survivor Jan Nowak-Jezioranski. This latter interview is informative, offering some details on the complexity of the big picture, like how the Soviets halted their advance toward Berlin in order to let the Germans finish off the Poles, paving the way for Soviet post-war control. But the delay prevented the Russians from capturing Berlin before the Allies. I wish there had been more background details in the actual film, like just where the company was initially and how far away from their destination they were.