ANDRZEJ WAJDA - Kanal (1957) DVD-Rip

Posted By : muzak | Date : 12 Mar 2007 22:13:00 | Comments : 4 |

ANDRZEJ WAJDA - KANAŁ (Kanal, Sewer, They Loved Life) [1957]
1430.4 MB | 1:32.09 | B&W

Language: Polish | External subtitles: Polish, English, Russian, Francais, Deutsch
Video: XviD, 1900 Kb/s, 25 frm/s, 672x512, 4:3
Audio: AC3, 48000 Hz, 2-ch

A SYMBOLIC DEPICTION OF HELL ON EARTH, SET IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE WARSAW UPRISING IN 1944.

HISTORY

Andrzej Wajda's 1957 film Kanal is a portrayal of the tragic heroism and the unprecedented suffering of the members of a detachment of Poland's Home Army during the Warsaw Uprising of August-September 1944. WWII and the brutal German occupation of Warsaw is in the fourth year. Germany's defeat is looming, but still a year in the future. The Soviet Red Army has advanced to the other bank of the Vistula River opposite Warsaw. The Polish Home Army command decides to stage an uprising in Warsaw so that the Red Army will enter a town liberated from the Germans by the Poles themselves, with a Polish Government of sorts in place. Initially large portions of the town are liberated, but Stalin decides to stop the advance of the Red Army and to let the Germans finish off the insurgents, unimpeded. He perceives the Polish Home Army as a threat to his further plans for Poland. For 63 days, the Red Army stands still on the other side of the river while the insurgents are decimated by the Germans. On the 63rd day, out of ammunition and food, the Home Army surrenders to the Germans.

After the first few days of the Uprising, few had any illusions that, left by the Soviets to face the might of the German army all alone, what awaited them was defeat and death. Indeed, for much of the uprising, the Germans viewed the Polish Home Army soldiers as bandits subject, if captured, to summary execution. Also, as they advanced into some of the areas held by the insurgents, they carried out massive executions of the civilian population. Although eventually the Germans accorded the insurgents combatant status and, upon surrender, treated them as prisoners-of-war. Over 200,000 Warsavians perished during the uprising and the city was virtually destroyed. After the surrender and evacuation of the remaining individuals, Hitler ordered any building or shells of a building that was still standing be dynamited. In the years after the war, by a prodigious effort of the whole nation, an new Warsaw rose on the ruins. Today it is a bustling metropolis, but few of its inhabitants can claim, however, Warsavian ancestry.

PICTURE

The story opens on the 56th day of the Uprising. A group of resistance fighters are ordered to hold a neighborhood from the advancing Germans. When it becomes clear that they will be wiped out, the regional commander orders them to escape through the sewers. Wajda creates a mosaic of meticulously combined narratives, following the paths of characters who once belonged to the same squad. The darkness of the canals is contrasted to the blinding brightness of the outside world bringing instant death to those daring to leave the underground canals and exposing the futility of their hopes. The central characters, Lieutenant “Madry” (“Wise”), Jacek “Korab” (“Bearing”) and his girlfriend “Stokrotka” (“Daisy”) are reduced to shadows looking for redemption and survival. Yet, this Dantean, apocalyptic odyssey through a hell without purpose, offers no relief or catharsis at the end of their horrible journey. As Marcel Martin noted,

"[T]he gloom, impenetrable and smothering, yet allowing for a vague hope for survival, and the merciless brightness, an illusory symbol of freedom which, nonetheless, involves the immediate presence of death. Having said this - and words do not suffice to express the full intensity of the drama - one must ask: can the viewer really participate in a film in which the horror reaches such unimaginable heights? And the horror and pity, aroused by the misfortunes of the character, are they end [sic] in themselves, since no relief, no hope is offered in the conclusion?"

Janczar's and Izewska's performances were internationally lauded after Kanal won the Jury Prize, or as it was then called, the Silver Palm at the Cannes Film Festival (the second most prestigious prize after the Palme d'Or). Their unsettling, memorable portrayals of young resistance fighters are rooted in human psychology, subverting the formulaic representations of fallen heroes in the post-revolutionary period. The dark, apocalyptic dimension of Jerzy Lipman's photography and Jan Krenz's musical score also enhanced the poetic sense of hopelessness, the unsettling, nightmarish vision of war which dominates Wajda's cinematic narrative. Polish critics state that the film paved the way for other films of the Polish School of filmmakers.

More info: http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=284&eid=409§ion=essay

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Posted By: FNB47 Date: 24 Mar 2007 01:07:42

Thank you muzak for this great movie of Andrzej Wajda.
I know I was late to thank you but there was a (technical) problem with this page... there were no "comment-box" before... I see that it is fixed now.

Do you have "Without Anesthesia" with English subtitles... My copy is a TV-rip without subtitles... It would be great if you have it.

Greetings.

Posted By: d0pp3lg4ng3r Date: 24 Jan 2008 05:07:33

Thanks...!!

Posted By: duilloj Date: 11 Oct 2010 17:12:02

This is the real deal, folks. Video quality is good, and the ENG subs are dead-on all the way through. Thanks for posting!

Posted By: majormanhunter Date: 10 Dec 2010 06:52:26

anyone got synched English srt for this?

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