The uprising was a major military operation in the summer of 1944 to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It was led by the Polish resistance movement Armia Krajowa, Home Army. The Home Army mistrusted the Soviet Union and launched the insurrection to assert Polish sovereignty in the capital and possibly bring back the Polish government in exile from London before the Red Army reached Warsaw.
The uprising was fought for 36 days with little outside assistance. The Soviet Army had reached the opposite side of the Vistula but was unable or unwilling to assist beyond sending 1,200 Polish commandos across the river. The Germans, beginning to retreat from Warsaw were initially taken by surprise but regrouped and fought the rebels to a complete defeat. 16,000 members of the Resistance were killed along with 200,000 civilians, most of them victims of savage Nazi mass executions. Hitler in person ordered that Warsaw be razed to the ground as an "example".
This film ends on Godzina 'W' or Time 'W', the resistance code name for 5PM, August 1, 1944 which marked the beginning of the uprising. So, the story is on preparations; procurement and distribution of arms, documents and identifications, assembly of platoons and brigades, distribution of tasks. The script is based on a short story by Jerzy Stawinski and on testimony of other participants in the uprising. The abrupt ending without final explanatory screens makes one suspect that this TV movie was conceived as pilot for a series that never was. Acting is very good and direction matter-of-factly, but there are some notable touches, such as the first scenes. Colors are subdued, sometimes approaching sepia, which suits the subject.
