Uprising

On 1 September 1939, Germany invades Poland and soon a regulation orders all Polish Jews to move into the Warsaw Ghetto. A Judenrat is installed to administer life inside the ghetto under German control. The atmosphere is one of coercion and escalating control.

Adam Czerniaków assumes leadership of the Judenrat, the body tasked with implementing German directives in the ghetto. He is forced to weigh morally fraught orders, including the deportations to Treblinka. His decisions reveal the tension between communal protection and obedience to occupiers.

By the end of 1942, deportations to Treblinka become a grim and accepted reality among ghetto residents. The realization of doom unsettles the community and deepens the sense of urgency to act. The Judenrat and residents confront the moral cost of surviving under occupation.

Mordechai Anielewicz and Yitzhak Zuckerman lay the groundwork for the Jewish Combat Organization (ZOB), marking the formal start of organized armed resistance. Fighters begin coordinating clandestine activities and training.

The film explores the central question: how to stay moral in an immoral society. Czerniaków and other leaders debate whether resistance should proceed given the risk of brutal German reprisals. The tension between ethics and survival runs through the ghetto leadership.

A group of Polish Jews decide to rebel and to protect the honor of the Jewish people, beginning to organize the community for resistance. The act signals a turning point from passive suffering to collective defiance.

In the interlude before large-scale fighting, residents construct hidden shelters in basements and cellars, with tunnels linking buildings. These refuges provide tactical advantages and a sense of preparedness.

The Nazis raid the ghetto again on January 18, 1943, but the organized resistance manages to repel or halt the raid. The JCO's presence disrupts the Germans' ability to control the ghetto. This moment marks a tangible shift toward sustained resistance.

After the January raid, the ghetto's resistance intensifies its preparations, securing weapons and planning for a larger confrontation. The sense of impending escalation grows among residents.

On 19 April 1943, German forces return to the ghetto and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising officially begins. A handful of fighters take to the shelters, using tunnels and defensive positions to resist. The uprising becomes a symbol of collective defiance.

The fighters' possession of weapons, though limited, allows them to fight from bunkers and cellars, leveraging defensible positions against overwhelming odds. Their resilience gives the uprising a real, if tragic, dynamism.

The film closes by underscoring the ongoing moral questions faced by leaders like Czerniaków and Anielewicz, as the uprising unfolds under impossible circumstances. It highlights the humanity amid brutality and the attempt to preserve dignity under occupation.