Kanał (film)

Infobox Film | name =Kanał


caption =
director = Andrzej Wajda
producer = Zespół Filmowy Kadr
writer = Jerzy Stefan Stawiński
starring =Teresa Izewska
Tadeusz Janczar
Wienczysław Gliński
Tadeusz Gwiazdowski
Stanisław Mikulski
Emil Karewicz
Vladek Sheybal
Teresa Berezowska
cinematography =
music =
editing =
distributor = Zespół Filmowy Kadr
released = 1956
runtime = 95 min
language = Polish
budget =
amg_id =1:26916
imdb_id = 0050585

"Kanał" ("Sewer" in Polish) is a 1956 Polish film directed by Andrzej Wajda. It was the first film ever made about the Warsaw Uprising, telling the story of a ragged company of Home Army resistance fighters escaping the Nazi onslaught through the city's sewers. "Kanał" is the second film of Wajda's War trilogy, preceded by "A Generation" and followed by "Ashes and Diamonds".

Plot

"Watch them closely, for these are the last hours of their lives," announces the disembodied voice of a narrator, foreshadowing the tragedy that unravels. It is September 1944, the last days of the Warsaw Uprising, and Lieutenant Zadra (Wienczyslaw Glinski) is commanding a platoon of 43 soldiers in a desperate battle amidst the ruins of the Mokotów district. Facing a German offense and cut off from their comrades, Zadra is ordered to retreat through the sewers to the downtown district. Reluctant to admit defeat but determined to survive, the men and women of the platoon slog through the hellish labyrinth, only to become separated. The lovers Daisy (Teresa Izewska) and wounded Corporal Korab (Tadeusz Janczar) wade through sewage to the bitter end.

Production

The script was written by Jerzy Stefan Stawiński who himself survived in the sewers as a soldier of Armia Krajowa (the Polish underground resistance army) during the Warsaw Uprising. It was made by P.P. Film Polski at its production unit, Zespol Filmowy "Kadr"

Releases

"Kanał" earned Wajda the Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 1957 (the second most prestigious award after the "Palme d'Or"), solidifying his position as Poland's premier director. Censorship remained strong in Poland, but the fall of the Stalinist regime of Bolesław Bierut following the death of Joseph Stalin led to a loss of control allowing the film, "showing the tragic fate of those who followed the wrong orders", as the press put it at the time,Who|date=September 2007 to be made. Polish critics state that the film paved the way for other films of the Polish School of filmmakers.Who|date=September 2007

Cast

*Teresa Izewska as Daisy
*Tadeusz Janczar as Jacek Korab
*Wienczysław Glinski as Lt. Zadra
*Tadeusz Gwiazdowski as Sgt. Kula
*Stanisław Mikulski as Smukly
*Emil Karewicz as Lt. Madry
*Vladek Sheybal as Michael, the composer (credited as Wladyslaw Sheybal)
*Teresa Berezowska Tereska

See also

*Cinema of Poland
*List of Polish language films

External links

*imdb title|id=0050585|title=Kanal
* [http://www.wajda.pl/en/filmy/film02.html Andrzej Wajda on "Kanał"]
* [http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=284&eid=409&section=essay "Kanal": essay on the Criterion Collection website]

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title=Special Jury Prize, Cannes
years=1956
tied with "The Seventh Seal"
before="The Mystery of Picasso"
after="Mon Oncle"