Siege (1940)

Photo-journalist Julien Bryan narrates his own short feature as he spends a few days in a Warsaw that is under siege from the approaching Nazi war machine. It is almost three weeks since the city started being indiscriminately bombed leaving it’s buildings, hospitals and churches in ruins whilst it’s population risk random strafing from enemy aircraft as they try to gather potatoes from fields on the outskirts of what is left of their homes. Some of the images are frankly quite harrowing, especially towards the conclusion of this film and the sight of a young lad, with all he possesses in a makeshift sack, sitting next to the corpse of his recently mown down mother is a poignant and impactful image amongst many that we see here. It packs quite a punch in just ten minutes.