Kanal (1957)

ridiculous rating

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

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.

In 1944, Polish resistance fighters descend into Warsaw's sewers to escape occupiers from Nazi Germany. This excellent film noticeably lacks scenes which may have explained some leaps in the storyline; it often feels like a part of the story is missing, and separate character groups apparently just miss each other in the underground. Specifically, there is no good sense about the passage of time between scenes and events, sometimes regarding signposts in the sewer.However, this does not diminish the film's impact. Director Andrzej Wajda and cinematographer Jerzy Lipman succeed in taking us through the intestines of war. The film includes several emotional endings, but the final scenes of wounded young soldier Tadeusz Janczar being led to his symbolic prison by powerful blonde girlfriend Teresa Izewska is most memorable. Hopelessly pessimistic, like the other doomed resisters, "Jacek Korab" escapes by the only means possible.******** Kanal (4/20/57) Andrzej Wajda ~ Tadeusz Janczar, Teresa Izewska, Wienczyslaw Glinski, Vladek Sheybal

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.

Bravo. This is the kind of war story that movies were made for. It almost has a Robert Aldrich feel, something of the grim pessimism of his one set in Germany about the ones taking apart bombs, 10 seconds to hell, and because Wajda was able to use the leftover ruins still abounding from the war, well, seldom did war look so real. The great thing about the film is how everything is jam packed into this one, such a welter of emotions. When you get down to it there are not many great war movies, but this is one. And if there was even a movie to be watched in the dank cavern of a movie house,this is the one. Ashes and Diamonds is also quite good, but there Wajda was a bit preachy. Here the situation will not allow him to be anything but brutally honest.