The plot involves a Rashōmon-like investigation into the life of a man who has been found dead after having been hurled from a train. As security agents, police and a medical examiner piece together his identity, three accounts emerge: one set during World War II, one in the immediate aftermath of the war, and one in contemporary Poland. In each account, the victim seems to have been a mysterious, ambiguous presence, of shifting loyalties and suspicious connections, who set himself against the powers that be.
Critics attacked the film for its depiction of a world rife with secret agents and hidden enemies—a favorite Stalinist theme—while the film seems, rather, to demonstrate how heroism and villainy are often matters of point of view and timing.
