David Traversa Probably my contribution to this film is an unfair one, since I'm writing from a feeling that comes back to my memory when I see the title "Kanal" all of a sudden and some flashes appeared in my mind of that sensational film.I should see it again and study my reaction NOW, a totally different person from that young adult that I was when I saw this picture.I can recall leaving the movie theater when the film ended with a devastating sense of doom not only because of the total blackness of the movie but specially by its ending, absolutely crashing, morally and physically.Of course Hollywood would have never done such a dark movie and the feminine character would have walked thru the sewer system in some designer clothes, fully made up and coiffed to death, happily singing Che sara, sara --or Who's Sarah?-- (Doris Day as the protagonist? 1957 right?).I honestly believe that I never saw a most depressing movie in my whole life. Maybe "Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini" (Sublime!!) but color photography helped to take it out of that terrible sense of doom we get from the black and white "Kanal".A MASTERPIECE, no doubt, but you must be in the right mood to watch it without getting dangerously depressed.

drystyx 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.

Theo Robertson With the Red Army at the gates of Warsaw in the summer of 1944 the Poles in the city rose up against the Nazi occupiers . Men , women and children took part in it as they waited for the Soviet liberators . Unfortunately the Red Army doesn't do liberation and Joe Stalin didn't recognise any difference between Nazi stormtroopers and Polish nationalist so the Red Army sat outside the gates waiting for one side to beat the other so that there'd be no resistance for them entering he Warsaw capital . The number of Nazi dead was counted in thousands , the Polish dead in hundreds of thousands . It was a testimony to Polish courage and Soviet cynicism Andrzej Wajda's KANAL tells part of the story . Certainly the Polish courage is well represented . It wasn't just the Polish underground resistance army who took part in the uprising . So did intellectuals , old men , woman and children and this film represents the diverse cross pattern . Armed only with small arms they fought off battle hardened SS divisions who had aircraft , tanks and heavy artillery . What the film sadly doesn't mention is the role the Soviets played by stabbing the Poles in the back . It's understandable when communist Poland was still under Soviet influence . Nikita Khruschev had started his " de-Stalinism " program but such a change was like replacing Nazism with fascism so while there was some benefits to this new regime it doesn't stop the downside of the fundamentalist dictatorship That said Wajda has made a classic European film . I remembered it from 20 years ago and when I tracked it down I wasn't disappointed by it . It's a mix of styles with the scenes above ground mirroring the Italian Neo-Realist movement with the scenes set under the eponymous sewers ( Kanal being Polish for sewer ) being inspired by German Expressionism . The characters are people you can believe in from Lt Zadra the courageous patriot in charge of the company to Daisy , a morally ambiguous ( A prostitute ? ) woman . The director doesn't make the mistake like many film makers of showing what a sewer is . More often than not they're just a cosy film set . Not here . It's a sanitation system full of faeces and urine and dangerous gases and the characters have to crawl through it . This reality combined with a haunting mood muzak by Jan Krenz makes KANAL a riveting film There are a couple of flaws to it however . The lack of any mention to the Soviets is forgivable as it's understandable . What isn't so forgivable is that the time frame is rather confusing . Many of the characters succumb to madness but considering they've fought off the Nazis for 56 days would a few hours in the sewers cause something Nazi shells were incapable of ? It's never stated how Daisy would know the layout of the sewer system and if she's so important why not let her lead the party . There's also an unlikely need for characters to spout existentialist dialogue at unlikely times . There's also the irritating lack of consistency where matches not working in one scene only to have them working a few scenes later and characters telling their comrades not to shout in case the Germans hear them only to have the same characters shout in the following scene These are minor flaws despite being noticeable . KANAL is a film that will stay with you and scenes will burn themselves in to the memory such as a soldier asking a young , pretty woman lying on a stretcher if she's unwell only to see the blanket fall away revealing her right leg has been amputated above the knee . You'll also be able to remember long after seeing it who gets killed in what order . This might mean it doesn't have the same impact upon repeated viewing but it's a film everyone should see at least once

MartinHafer This is certainly NOT a feel-good film, as it deals with the horrors of the Nazis and their crushing of the Warsaw uprising of 1944. After all, there is no way or reason to make this a nice or fun movie to view. It just isn't possible. BUT, we are treated to an intensely realistic and viscerally disturbing film showing the war in all its awfulness. The first portion of the film is set in crumbling buildings and the nobility of the cause is apparent. However, the vast majority of the film is set in the sewers (hence the title "Kanal") and the characters, over time, lose some of their nobility and just ache to survive. The film is intensely claustrophobic and the filth they move about in literally looks like raw sewage--so as the characters fight for life and, in most cases, give up hope, you find yourself being pulled into their world and their terror. A great, though intensely awful film to watch. So, it comes as no surprise that I would not recommend this film to children or people afflicted with claustrophobia.PS--if the musician seems familiar, it's because Wladyslaw Sheybal (also known as "Vladek Sheybal") is one of the Bond Villains in the movie FROM Russia WITH LOVE.