April war movie

April (1961, Poland)

Original / alternative title: Kwiecien

Categories: ambush movies infantry movies

April

Director: Witold Lesiewicz

Czas: 95 minut

Laguages: Polish

war movies infoAdam 'Frey' Barczynski
2024-04-07 / 1970-01-01

In last weeks of the war Colonel Czapran plans to make a brave push on the enemy lines, but his soldiers are not so keen to follow him, especially since their orders from HQ are different.

In April 1945 Polish forces are pushing through the territory of Germany towards Berlin, but strong opposition puts the front on hold. Colonel Czapran, against the orders he has received, is planning to attack on his part of the front and surprise the enemy. Ensign Szumibor tries to persuade him to stick to the orders from HQ, but Czapran treats him as coward and slaps him in the face. The unit prosecutor, Captain Hyrny, arrives to deal with a soldier that is accused of desertion, but while dealing with that case Hyrny is approached by Szumibor, who demands that legal actions would be taken against Czapran for publicly humiliating him. Hyrny is surprised by the situation, but soon learns that by pressing charges against Czapran Szumibor tries to save the soldiers from carrying on the insane idea of the push. The tension is running high, especially when Czapran, unhappy with Hyrny’s assessment of the situation, pulls out his gun and wants to shoot the deserter himself.

Interesting war drama showing the end of World War 2 in Europe when Germans were still trying to stop the Allied offensive in the east. The officers of Polish and Russian army saw their last chances to prove their value by pushing enemy to the limits, but at the same time their soldiers knew that the war won’t last long and preferred to stay alive rather than try something brave and pointless. Good cast and interesting plot, but film is based mostly on dialogues and clash of the characters rather than actual action scenes, so it might not appeal to some of the viewers.

Our rating

5.6

Film value

7 / 10

Realism factor

3 / 5

Adventure factor

2 / 5

Historical accuracy

2 / 5

2024-04-07