A colonel chasing glory while his men chase a corpse. Polish war cinema hits different.
Set at the end of the war. A hot-headed colonel tries to force his men on to heroics although the war is almost over. A war-weary lieutenant tries to muffle his efforts but he keeps on with his men and is killed fighting in the front lines, all his men decide to get his body.
Acting
Henryk Bąk's colonel: pathetic tyrant, impossible to look away.
Direction
Lesiewicz's final frames hit like a gut punch.
Director
Witold Lesiewicz
Maria Ciesielska
Cpl. Ruszkowska
Piotr Pawłowski
Prosecutor Hyrny
Henryk Bąk
Col. Czapran
Tadeusz Kondrat
Klukwa
Franciszek Pieczka
Pvt. Anklewicz
Leszek Herdegen
Ens. Szumibor
Jerzy Turek
Jasiek
August Kowalczyk
Major Lipiec
Jan Kobuszewski
Paweł
Andrzej Krasicki
Chaplain
Krzysztof Kowalewski
Sulikowski
Jerzy Nowak
Postman
Jerzy Pichelski
Doctor
Bolesław Płotnicki
Major Kozłowski
Witold Pyrkosz
Lt. Galicki
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Polish thaw period, quietly critiques Soviet-era military glorification without explicit censorship bait.
The title 'April' refers to 1945—Hitler's suicide month, making Czapran's heroics historically absurd.
PL
