World War II · Film · 1957
Kanał
In the last days of the Warsaw Uprising, a cut-off Home Army company is ordered to retreat from Mokotów through the city sewers, a labyrinth of darkness and filth.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 3 places.
Stop 1: Mokotów, Warsaw
Lieutenant Zadra's exhausted company takes up a new position in the ruins and is then ordered into the sewers.
Stop 2: Sewers under Warsaw
Key location
Underground the group splits up; some wander in circles, others reach exits blocked by bars or booby traps.
Stop 3: Dworkowa Street exit
One officer climbs out of a manhole into daylight, straight into the hands of German soldiers.
What really happened
The Mokotów district held out until 27 September 1944, when German attacks forced its defenders to try to escape through the sewers toward the city centre. Many lost their way underground, were trapped by grates and German grenades, or climbed out into German-held streets.
On Dworkowa Street the Germans shot about 120 insurgents as they came out of a manhole on 27 September. Screenwriter Jerzy Stefan Stawiński had fought in the uprising and gone through the sewers himself. Made only 13 years later under a communist government that distrusted the Home Army, the film shared the Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 1957.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- Kanał
- Directed by
- Andrzej Wajda
- Countries
- Poland
- Languages
- Polish, German
- Released
- 1957
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Eastern Front
- Themes
- Resistance
- Combat
