Olimpiada 40 (1980) dir. Andrzej Kotkowski

In the 1940 Olympics, prisoners of a German stalag organized sports games in the underground. Had it not been for the war, they probably would have met the camp supervisors in the sports arena. Meanwhile, the SS men try to break them with punitive gymnastics. In the German stalag meet old acquaintances: German Otto Schulze (Wojciech Pszoniak) and Pole Piotr (Mariusz Benoit), former sports rivals, now supervisor and prisoner. Piotr refuses to acknowledge their pre-war acquaintance, provocatively introducing himself with his camp number. Schulze was brought to the oflag to bring more discipline to the quarries. There is growing frustration among the international prisoners of war over the increasing regime. Piotr comes up with an idea to boost the morale of the prisoners by organizing a sports competition in the 1940 Olympics. The conspirators secretly prepare the emblems, devise the competitions, and choose the contestants - all at the risk of their lives. Despite exhaustion, avitaminosis, and developing diseases, they made an effort to compete. The Germans, sensing the growing tension, tightened the regulations. During roll call, a guard (Ryszard Kotys) torments Andrzej (Krzysztof Janczar) with punitive gymnastics. He forces several prisoners of different nationalities to do the so-called “frog“. To his surprise, the others start chanting and cheering for their compatriots. Penal gymnastics turns into a sports competition. The prisoners experience a moment of triumph over their tormentors. Andrzej Kotkowski, the director, and Michał Komar, the screenwriter, based the plot on facts from the history of the Second World War. In September 1940 the prisoners of stalag XIII C in Langwasser organized clandestine Olympic Games. The filmmakers based their work on memoirs, source materials, and witness accounts. The film was shot, among others, in the authentic workplace of the stalag prisoners, in a quarry in Strzelin near Wrocław. The film was honored with the Golden Laurel of the Polish Olympic Committee (1980) and the French President’s Award at the International Sports Film Festival in Rennes (1982).