Westerplatte

^director Stanisław Różewicz
^screenplay Jan Józef Szczepański
^{director of photography} Jerzy Wójcik
^music Wojciech Kilar
^with Zygmunt Hübner, Arkadiusz Bazak, Tadeusz Schmidt, Józef Nowak
^awards
 Silver Medal at the Moscow International Film Festival, 1967
 Golden Grape at the 7th Lubuskie Film Summer in Łagów, 1975
 1st Class Award of the Minister of Culture and Art and 1st Class Awards of the Minister of National Defense for direction, screenplay and cinematography, 1967
 Warsaw Mermaid (Syrenka Warszawska) – Film Critics Club SDP Award SDP, 1968
 ’Film’ magazine Readers Award, Golden Duck (Złota Kaczka), 1968

KONSTANTY ILDEFONS GAŁCZYŃSKI, A SONG OF THE SOLDIERS OF WESTERPLATTE [PIEŚŃ O ŻOŁNIERZACH Z WESTERPLATTE]

When the days ran their course
And the moment came to die in summer
Straight to heaven went in fours
The soldiers of Westerplatte
(And the summer was beautiful that year)

(…) But when cold wind starts blowing
And sadness envelops the world
Streaming down into the heart of Warsaw
Will come the soldiers of Westerplatte.

RAFAŁ MARSZAŁEK, A LIFE RE-LIVED [POWTÓRKA Z ŻYCIA], KRAKÓW 1970

In Różewicz’s perception defeat is very manful: laconic, dogged in sullen concentration, never ascending into mournful symbols, but silent, as if retracting within (…). ‘Westerplatte’ is a dedication to the courage of soldiers, a courage that had not been named, especially in the context of fashionable criticism concerning the flight of the government, leaving the country in a haste on Zaleszczycka road. Różewicz and Szczepański do not refit the romantic myth, but they restore grandeur to the elementary values: sacrifice, brotherhood, perseverance. ‘Westerplatte’ is one of the first Polish films which does not identify the military failure of that time with a collapse of national morale (…) The fathers’ defeats resound in a clear tone.