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Kanal

Inevitable death hangs upon the characters in Andrzej Wajda's Kanal. The impending truth is detailed by a narrator in the beginning: "Watch them closely, since these are the last hours of their life". Shocking as it is, moments come and pass of hopefulness that give the audience a taste of unawareness, like that off screen voice in the opening was a mere conspiracy. It's uncertain maneuvers like this that make the film so incredibly tense. Lieutenant Zadra leads what is left of a resistance's third platoon during the Warsaw uprising at the end of September, 1944. After making it to their rendezvous, they are pushed back yet again by Germans, coaxing the group to escape through the sewers. Light is vague, confined by darkness, and the chaos that they thought was left on the tormented streets above seeps underground, generating a rippling effect of uncontrollable tension and frenzy. Not only do the sewers' dim lighting overshadow a foreboding suspense, it coincides with the closure of eyes that precede death. The two lovers, Korab and Daisy, split up from the rest of the group and throughout their grueling walk are guided by Daisy's torch: their beacon of hope. When light fully replaces darkness, it almost resembles the supposed bright light that leads to death's doorway. The two also exchange tense dialogue concerning their situation, whether it be hopeful or doubtful, yet a fitting last goodbye. Battle scenes rarely permit in Kanal. The noise of gun fire is apparent in the opening scene that presents our group heading to their rendezvous amongst a fantastic one-shot. There is no obvious main protagonist. These tragic heroes all share the same devastating story. Little battle action preserves the focus attached to the people of the platoon. There's a handful of more predominantly used characters, but even so, it's a wide range that demonstrates the insanity that war emits on its prisoners in a greater scope. Michael, a composer, eventually phones his family and has a few sweet words. His music is played somberly on the piano at the rendezvous and again on a small woodwind instrument in the sewers. Like a lot of his comrades, evident death loomed in their heads, resorting him to the only thing he can use as a melancholy reminder of home, ensuing the subtle hysteria. The hopeful uncertainty of each character's fate in Kanal is a dominant key in the film's storytelling. It tricks and suspends anticipation in all directions. Like the third platoon, as they hike and trudge through gloom of the sewers, viewers wish for the light at the end of the tunnel, however bleak it really is.