Kanał

Kanał is Andrzej Wajda’s bleak, claustrophobic account of the final days of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. The film follows exhausted members of the underground Home Army as they attempt to escape through the city’s sewers in late September, when defeat is already unavoidable. Its descent into the dank, labyrinthine tunnels creates a stark, Dantean portrait of wartime resistance, sacrifice, and seemingly impossible paths to freedom.

Wajda’s second feature continues his interest in naturalistic, non-idealized depictions of resistance. Cinematographer Jerzy Lipman renders the sewer interiors in an intensely contrasted black-and-white style. Although made during Poland’s political “Thaw,” the film initially faced harsh criticism from audiences who wanted a vision of moral and spiritual victory rather than death and defeat. It has since come to be regarded as one of Wajda’s major films and an important reckoning with the Warsaw Uprising.

When: Monday, November 23

Showtime: 7:00 pm

Venue: Harvard Film Archive

Director: Andrzej Wajda

Cast: Teresa Iżewska, Tadeusz Janczar, and Wieńczysław Gliński

Country and year: Poland, 1957

Format: 35mm film, in black and white

Run time: 96 minutes

Language: Polish and German with English subtitles

Tickets: Price not available

Series: Part of “Once There Was History ... Andrzej Wajda at 100,” which runs November 21–December 14, 2026

Note: The screening is presented on film, with the print supplied by the Harvard Film Archive.