Kanal
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Stanislaw Mikulski, Tadeusz Gwiazdowski, Tadeusz Janczar, Teresa Izewska, Wienczyslaw GlinskiBrand: Facets Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); German (Original Language); Polish (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-11-18
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Polart
Movie Reviews of Kanal
Movie Review: Bleak, harrowing, depressing, tragic.... dignifying nonetheless
Summary: 5 Stars
Andrzej Wajda's "Kanal" is a true cinematographic masterpiece both in substance and in form.
In substance, for it tells the truth of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 to the degree perhaps unmatched before and since. If the complexity of the event itself were not enough challenge, Andrzej Wajda tells this story in an unambiguous opposition to the official "truth" as maintained by the communist authorities then in power. And this is what impresses me most. For we must remember that Wajda created this film in 1956/1957 in Poland under the communist rule and Soviet domination. Although by then the worst of the Stalinist excesses were the matter of past and Poland - briefly - enjoyed considerable liberalization and ease of censorship, the essence of the political system with its Party control of all aspects of public life was still very much intact.
And the official interpretation of the Warsaw Uprising was anything but positive. This was the subject best left in complete silence as non-event. Obviously, it could not have been erased from the collective memory; the ruins of Warsaw, the tens of thousands of dead (more than a quarter million Varsovians perished to be exact), and those who survived were all too conscious witnesses to the harrowing tragedy that occurred just twelve years prior. But to censure, criticize, condemn, to denounce, and to deplore - yes, they very much could do it. And they did. According to the official interpretation, thus, the Home Army was not the largest and bravest underground resistance movement of patriots fighting the Nazi occupiers. They were Nazi collaborators, they were anti-socialist fanatics and renegades hostile to the Red Army, Soviet Union and everything that was deemed progressive and just. The invectives and persecutions went on. The Home Army resistance fighters were "the enemies of the people".
Andrzej Wajda portrays the soldiers of the Home Army as normal people, "just like us", who had their dreams, wanted to live their lives in peace, longed for love and fun... But they were also patriots, they were courageous and they fought for the right cause. They failed and Wajda also shows why. Not bluntly - that was impossible - he uses metaphors and symbols. But he leaves no doubt what was the Polish predicament. One of the final scenes is very telling: two of the soldiers, Caravel and Daisy, separated from the rest of the group, after long trek trough the sewers finally reach the end of the tunnel. They can see the river and the other bank where freedom (and the Red Army) awaits them... only to realize that the exit is barred. There is no freedom at the end. This episode is a metaphor for the whole Polish experience during World War II. After being "liberated" from the bloody German oppression, Poland has fallen to the Soviet domination.
"Kanal" is equally a masterpiece in form. Nothing is overplayed, the actors play in a very controlled, yet natural way, tempo of the film is consistent, photography very realistic, light contrasting exactly the way it must have been in reality, the music adequately illustrative.
While praising the film for its mastery, I cannot say the same about the disc itself. Poor picture and sound transfer, as if the publisher was unaware of the technological achievements of the last decade and on top of that practically no additional features. This film virtually screams for the director's commentary and interviews with other, still alive, creators of the film. Without it much of the symbolism may be lost on the American viewer not necessarily well versed in the history of contemporary Poland. For these reasons, I think, the Criterion's box-set edition of all three War classics (also "Generation" and "Ashes and Diamonds") would be likely a better choice.
Summary of Kanal
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