POLISH FILM ACADEMY

The film is a remarkable achievement of the Polish Film School. It is an ironic resolution to the myth of heroism that has been manifest in our culture for generations. It inspired a public debate about the national character of Poles.

Segment I. Scherzo alla Polacca

Segment II. Ostinato lugubre

Segment III. Con bravura

Munk decided that Segment III was not good enough and cut it from the final version of the film.  

(I) The Warsaw Uprising starts in 1944. Dzidziuś Górkiewicz leaves the capital in panic. He makes a lot of money on trade and does not want to die. He meets his wife in Zalesie. There, he finds a Hungarian officer, Istvan. The officer tells him that the Hungarians in the detachment stationed in the town want to help the fighting insurgents. Dzidziuś goes back to Warsaw to pass this information to the Mokotów commander. The Uprising command delegate a Major to carry out negotiations with the Hungarians. Risking his life, Dzidziuś leads him to Istvan. The next day the Major announces to Górkiewicz that the Hungarians have set some conditions. They want the Russians, stationed on the other side of the Vistula, to recognise them as insurgents. The Major is exhausted from his journey and cannot walk. Górkiewicz goes back to Warsaw. In the capital, he is captured by the insurgent police and arrested as a spy. Only after many hours does Dzidziuś manage to get to the commander, who entrusts him with an encrypted report.

At night Górkiewicz visits a friend of his, a girl, who is a liaison, and gets drunk. Still intoxicated, he leaves Warsaw under German fire. He delivers a report which states that the Poles have refused the Hungarian offer. The Hungarian detachment leaves Zalesie. Dzidziuś’s wife speaks of a peaceful life with him. Meanwhile, Górkiewicz decides to return to fight in Warsaw at the last minute.

(II) Polish officers are interned in a POW camp. They talk about Lieutenant Zawistowski who escaped from the camp and was never captured by the Germans. It is only this legend that consolidates the conflicted men, mentally disturbed by their long captivity. Lieutenant Kurzawa is placed in the camp after the Warsaw Uprising. After a while he learns from officer Turek that Zawistowski did not escape. He has been hiding in the camp for years, not wanting to destroy the myth of his own legend. Having learned this secret, Kurzawa helps Zawistowski survive. He brings him food and cigarettes. Inspired by Zawistowski, Lieutenant Żak tries to escape and is caught behind the barbed wire. He tries to escape again and is killed by a guard. His death shakes the POW camp. Meanwhile, exhausted, Zawistowski dies. The problem arises – how to dispose of the body? Turek wants to maintain the legend of the heroic lieutenant. He pleads with the camp commandant. As a result of their conversation, Zawistowski’s body is clandestinely carried out by an SS unit in a large boiler.

Joanna Piątek, Leksykon polskich filmów fabularnych, Warszawa 1996