This scene stuck out to me during the film because it is the moment everyone realizes that they’ve lost control. It shows the uncertainty and helplessness the characters feel after the war sirens went off and the first bombs were dropped on Poland. I understand that this film is supposed to be ironic and hypocritical but I think this particular still contains a lot of irony in itself. The line, “The Nazis are putting on the show now — a much bigger one”, portrays their loss of power over the situation and also states that now this show/film is being put on/will be about the Nazis. In this still, the performers from the play are hiding. The characters they’re playing were powerful, high-titled people during their lives which makes it ironic that they’re now hiding from war.

What I found interesting about this still is the foreshadowing it is casting on the performers. The image that they are all squeezed in hiding and scared portends their possible future as refugees once the war hits Poland harder. This also could be foreshadowing a rise in the resistance, it could be portending a secret meeting between resisting Poles. This scene discloses a lot of different things which can be taken in multiple ways, but we can be sure that this still reveals unification amongst Poles against Nazis during this time as well as the new distribution of power to the Nazi regime.