The last days of the Warsaw Uprising, World War II. Lieutenant Zadra leads a Polish military unit of 43 people, down from 70 just three days ago, among the ruins of the Mokotov suburb of Warsaw. Among them are also Jacek "Korab", composer Michal and Madry. They rest in ruined buildings, but then the Nazi German army attacks and encircles them, so Zadra reluctantly accepts to evacuate 27 of his remaining unit down in the sewage. Down there, some are lost and escape when they think they smell poison gas. A girl, Stokrotka, helps guide a wounded Jacek, staying behind the main group. They reach the end of the sewage, but the exit is closed off with bars, so Stokrotka lies to a half-dead Jacek that they made it. Meanwhile, Madry climbs up a manhole, but on the surface is met by a Nazi soldier who sends him towards corpses of other Polish soldiers. Zadra exits on the other side and shoots his Sgt. Kula who lost all his soldiers behind them, and then goes back into the sewage.
Rarely has there ever been a director who anchored his film stories so firmly in Polish history as much as Andrzej Wajda, ranging from Nazi to Communist occupation. His 2nd feature length film, "Kanal", is one of his best achievements, a black classic that depicts the failed Warsaw Uprising during World War II, and thus the whole tone is bitter, dark, depressive and lyrical to the end, illustrating that time period of Polish history where everything seemed lost and hopeless, like there was no future awaiting. In the opening scenes, as the military unit walks pass the camera in Warsaw in ruins, the narrator briefly describes most of the soldiers ("Officer Cadet "Ark", dreams of a hot bath; "Slim", "Ark's" aide, wants to build planes after the war..."), before grimly concluding: "These are the tragic heroes. Take a good look. These are the last hours of their lives." Everything is already elegantly established and foreshadowed in the first 5 minutes of the film.
In one sequence, the Polish Army reaches a wounded woman lying on a stretcher, and a soldier asks her: "Are you badly wounded?", and she replies with: "No, it's nothing", as the medics lift the stretcher, the blanket falls down from her, revealing her right leg has been amputated. In another sequence, with the soldiers resting in a devastated building, composer Michal asks Lt. Zadra to make a phone call towards his family, and Zadra has this exchange with a man on the other end: "You have no windows? I forgot what they even look like!" In these and other small episodes, Wajda is able to efficiently show the psychological state of Poland during World War II, where people were dying, getting wounded, all the infrastructure was damaged, whereas the quality of life was basically zero. The first half of "Kanal" shows the Polish soldiers on the surface, while the other half shows them descending into the sewage, to try to escape via underground from the Nazi encirclement. There is no patriotism, nor heroism here—this is real life, unglamorized, de-propagandized, with civilians on the surface accusing the soldiers of abandoning them like cowards, showing war as dirty and heavy, in an explicit allegory of soldiers walking through the sewage water full of excrement. This underground sewage thus becomes a symbol of Dante's Inferno from "The Divine Comedy", a literal hell for soldiers trapped and outnumbered in a war against a stronger enemy. The most memorable episode revolves around a woman, Stokrotka, helping a wounded Jacek walk through the sewage, as she says two unforgettable lines: "My life story is longer than this tunnel!" and: "Do you think we will get our lives back?" As the movie asks: is it worth it to fight for justice and freedom even though you know it is hopeless and you will not survive? "Kanal" follows the people who said yes.
Grade:+++
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