New Print! Kanal is a grim, hallucinatory picture of the last days of thePolish Resistance in Warsaw. Much of the film takes place in the sewers,through which the survivors of a Partisan platoon move in an attempt toretreat to the city's center. Kanal conveys a tragic, ironic sense ofthe purity, heroism, and love that characterized the actions of the menand women trapped in the (real and symbolic) labyrinth of Poland'sunderground Resistance. Moments of romantic passion that erupt in thecanal are like the waves of sewage, to be ducked in the name ofsurvival. The film's two apocalyptic settings-a bombed-out area of thecity in which the Resistance fighters play army against German tanks,and the sewer itself-offer Wajda a palette of symbolic angles, light andshadow; the film is both real and hyper-real, both war film andexistential parable. Dante is brought up to date in this crawlspace fromhell, where daylight and freedom would bring both air (life) and certaindeath.