Eroica: Heroic Symphony in Two Movements

In the two novellas that make up Andrzej Munk’s film, war loses its monumental glow and becomes a realm of absurdity, chance, and illusions. The first part follows the fate of Dzidziuś Górkiewicz – a petty hustler whose involvement in the Warsaw Uprising comes at the least heroic moment. Unexpectedly, he becomes a liaison between a Hungarian unit and the command in Mokotów, although his moral and physical condition falls far short of the ideal conspirator. The second novella takes us to a prisoner-of-war camp, where Polish officers, crammed into a cramped barrack, build their last stronghold of identity: the myth of a lieutenant’s daring escape. In reality, the hero of their tale dies in hiding, but the story proves more important than the truth – it enables survival. Using Jerzy Stefan Stawiński’s screenplay, Munk creates a film stripped of pathos, ironic, and tinged with black humor.