Kanal (1957)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Great Film overall

best movie i've ever seen.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Agnieszka Holland's recent "In Darkness" told the story of a Lwow sewer worker who hid the city's Jewish population from the Nazis. Andrzej Wajda's "Kanał" tells a similar story. Set during the Warsaw Uprising, it looks at some people who have to hide in the sewers. The existence of the three groups of people in this putrid setting is like a descent into the darkest depths of the human soul.This was the second installment of Wajda's War Trilogy, after "A Generation" and before "Ashes and Diamonds". All three serve to not only show the horrors of the Nazi occupation of Poland, but also show how the people push through even in the most desperate situations. In an interview, Wajda noted that the scene where Daisy and Korab find the bars represents the time that the Soviet army (presumably across the river) was approaching Warsaw but waited for the Nazis to actually depart the city so that it would be easier to take. The movie is as much an indictment of Stalinism as it is of Nazism.Anyway, it's definitely a great one. I recommend it.

This is an example of how not to make a movie.It is supposed to be a brutal, realistic story, and there lies the problem. It fails, miserably. It is very embarrassing for those involved in a work when they tout it for something it isn't. Had it been made as some of the usual fluff, which it is, they might have gotten by.As it is, we're bored to tears with a senseless array of scenes, and no one cares. It's so predictable and contrived, one can imagine an audience groaning even in the fifties. It takes absolutely no risks, and just gives us the same formula we get every time. We immediately know what the fate is for every character, and strangely enough, the director even comes across as a neo nazi idealist with his contrived finish.Stink, stank, stunk.

In the 1944 Warsaw uprising, a Polish anti-Nazi resistance unit take refuge from their enemies in the city's system of sewers. Polish critics state that the film paved the way for other films of the Polish School of filmmakers.Kanal is an underrated entry in director Andrzej Wajda's war trilogy, but there is an extraordinary sense of claustrophobia in the dark, dark tunnels beneath Warsaw, and the heroism of these beleaguered partisans is stirring. Their fear of being discovered creates heart-stopping tension. Kanal earned Wajda the Special Jury Prize at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival, solidifying his position as Poland's premier director.

With much thanks owed to some excellent set decoration, this Polish film has a very authentic feel to it, and it is all captured well by the cinematographer, with great angels and good use of panning. The film has a number of striking moments as well as some solid bits of character study. The final fifteen or so minutes are dragged out beyond reason, but there is not much other than this and the noticeably non-professional acting that weigh against this incredible, very different cinematic experience. It is well done generally all round, even on an audio level, with some great sound work and music choices to accompany the action.