Wajda's Kanal

Stark, dirty, horrific portrayals of war have become common over the years but what really sets great war films apart is the ability to focus on a group of interesting characters in extraordinary circumstances. Andrzej Wajda’s Kanal is an amazing achievement portraying an incident from the Warsaw uprising.

In a city torn apart by World War II, Lieutenant ‘Zadra’ and his rag-tag group of soldiers are attempting to hold off the inevitable German invasion at the last line of defence during the Warsaw Resistance. The film really hits its straps when the resistance group is ordered to withdraw and the film follows their descent into the city’s sewers. It is appropriate that the artist of the bunch quotes Dante as they descend into what can only be described as hell on earth. The cinematography evokes this with the fog rising off the sewer’s liquid depths and the visceral effect of darkness and claustrophobia, which is at time expressionistic. A floating body appears ghost-like in its paleness and gas-induce moaning.

Arguably all war films are horror films but Kanal effectively makes the turn into the horror genre. From the seeming openness of the war ravaged town, the mis en scene of sewers is reminiscent of the horror genre (like the lair of a monster). You can never be sure what is around the next corner and Wajda builds tension admirably conveying the dirtiness and claustrophobia of the sewer tunnels.

The company is faced with the dual threats pressing on them from above and below. Above it is the possibility of any moment emerging into the face of a German pistol. Below it is the gas, the panic and confusion in the maze of seemingly identical tunnels, the dirtiness of wading through knee deep excrement, the darkness and fading torches, and most of all the madness that results from all of this. A man’s mind can be his own worst enemy and as the characters start to doubt their own eyes so does the audience. Is the artist really hearing music or is he going mad with the fumes? Is the moaning a man or a beast? Are the lights ahead friendly torches or a German ambush?

The film features an ensemble of distinct characters, whose personalities and interactions shape their fates. The stoic lieutenant, who is devoted to the company and feels his only duty is to his men. The dreamy artist, musician and poet, who only joined the company a few days ago and is doomed to wander the misty sewers playing his pipe for eternity. He becomes a part of this hallucinary underworld landscape. The youthful idealist, who thinks he can still make a difference, throwing himself into battle and who, as one lieutenants puts it, is ‘too young to appreciate living’. The young girl ready to die for love. The dashing soldier who uses alcohol to dull the pain but is hiding the truth.

In the mayhem of the sewers the chronology of events becomes distorted. As the film cuts between different groups of the company who have became separated in the initial chaos, Wajda provides some interesting visual clues as to the timelines of their journeys. This adds to the tragedy, with the audience knowing their companions have (or will) pass the same spot. Although the narrator warns the audience from the outset that none of the characters will make it through the night, you are still sucked into the cycles of hope and despair so poignantly portrayed. You find yourself hoping against hope that this group will make it and characters you have invested in come so close that you feel the anguish of hope being extinguished at the moment of its peak. As the fates of the characters are revealed one by one, you can feel the full weight of the tragedy of coming oh so close. Furthermore, it is often personal relationships which cloud the characters’ decisions adding to the heartbreak. The final image of duty (and perhaps madness) is striking and haunting.