Claiming the Reality (of Loss): Some Remarks on the Screenplay, Novel and FilmKwiecień (April, 1961) by Witold Lesiewicz and Józef Hen

The article discusses the interrelationships between Józef Hen’s novel Kwiecień (April), his two unpublishedscreenplays based on it, and Witold Lesiewicz’s fi lm Kwiecień (April, 1961), a canonicalwork of the Polish film school. The key problem concerns the question of the sense of sendingsoldiers to fight in the final days of the war, when its final outcome is already determined. Whenwriting his novel and its screenplay versions, Józef Hen referred to his own experience in April1945, when he fought in the ranks of the Second Polish Army and personally witnessed the tragedyof the soldiers dying in the final hours of the war, when personal ambitions and attitudes of commanderstook precedence over a rational assessment of the situation at the front. Hen’s noveland its screenplay and fi lm versions can therefore be seen as attempts at claiming the realityof loss. This is one of the main themes of Józef Hen’s writing. In April it is reflected in the attitudesof the main characters, as shaped by various dimensions of loss.