Westerplatte Resists

In 1967, Polish movie crew made an excellent film, Westerplatte, dedicated to first several days of September 1939's German attack on Polish peninsula, where a small but brave and crafty force of soldiers made their best to defend a small plot of land. The black and white film is a bit detached and withdrawn on purpose and it helps to build a certain menacing suspense. Heroism is shown here as a very usual, almost casual event, not a beautiful pose, but a gray, morbid bravery in face of imminent death. There are many simply soldiers and officers who do their duty and they defend the territory at their best, despite a sure feeling that many will fall. A sad, bitter and acid tale is very deep and real, slow camera work helps to show many faces of gruesome death. What makes this film not totally perfect is a certain lack of deeper character build-up, as well as some slightly hammy dialog that lose some of the sharpness. This is a very cool film that must be watched and be remembered as a good example of decent war cinema