To Be or Not to Be 1983

In wartime Warsaw, the Bronski Theatre is a large ensemble company led by Frederick Bronski, whose meticulous control often grates on the troupe, especially his wife Anna Bronski, whose performances consistently win the audience’s praise. Their domestic tension overlaps with the company’s ambitions, as Anna’s artistry and popularity heighten Frederick’s sense of ownership over the troupe.

Anna’s personal life becomes entangled when she begins a flirtation with bomber pilot Andre Sobinski, whom she invites to her dressing room during Frederick’s staging of Hamlet. The moment is buoyant and risky, a brief escape from the mounting pressure, but it is soon overshadowed by the looming threat of war. The mood shifts as the Nazi invasion of Poland disrupts their world, forcing Sobinski to return to his squadron and the troupe to face an uncertain future.

As the Bronski Theater fights to stay open under Gestapo censorship, Sobinski and the Royal Air Force’s Polish squadron find common cause with Dr. Siletski, a Polish radio broadcaster who claims he is returning to Poland with messages for family members and for the Polish Underground. The arrangement grows tense when Sobinski notices that Siletski cannot recognize Anna’s name, even though he had claimed to live in Warsaw. This discrepancy spurs deepening suspicion, and Sobinski seeks help from British intelligence, who quickly conclude that Siletski is a Nazi sympathizer plotting to deliver the names to the Gestapo.

A daring plan unfolds: Sobinski parachutes into Warsaw and reunites with Anna and Frederick, who have taken refuge with Anna’s dresser Sasha after their home becomes Gestapo Headquarters. In the city, Siletski takes Anna to his room at the Europa Hotel—now repurposed as German Military Headquarters—under the pretense of discussing Sobinski’s supposed personal message. He invites her to dinner, convinced there is no military value in the exchange, while back at home Anna explains the situation to Frederick and Sobinski. They soon realize that Siletski and Gestapo leader Colonel Erhardt have never actually met, and they hatch a plan in which Frederick will pose as Erhardt to retrieve the list and protect Anna.

The ruse deepens as the night intensifies: actors disguised as Gestapo interrupt Anna’s date with Siletski and drag him away to “headquarters,” the Bronski Theater. Frederick, adopting Siletski’s guise, manages to recover the list but cannot help reacting to news of Anna’s liaisons, which momentarily exposes his masquerade. Siletski attempts a frantic escape through the theater, but Sobinski shoots him, removing any chance he posed of revealing the larger scheme. Frederick must now double down on the deception, posing again as Siletski to retrieve a copy of the list and to secure Anna’s safety, all while the ever-present danger of Gestapo scrutiny lingers.

The theater becomes a battleground as Nazi soldiers assault the troupe for harboring Sasha, who is targeted for being homosexual. The performance space itself is compromised and several actors rally to protect him, but the theater is forced to close. With Anna taken to Gestapo headquarters under Erhardt’s orders, Frederick disguises himself as Siletski once more to retrieve her, unaware that the Germans have already found Siletski’s body. In a tense moment, Ehrhardt leaves Frederick alone in a room with the dead Siletski, and Frederick improvises a final gambit: he removes Siletski’s beard and applies a fresh disguise beard, goading Ehrhardt into pulling it off and convincing him that Frederick is the real Siletski—enough to secure Sasha’s release.

Yet the ruse cannot last. As the plan nears its breaking point, Sobinski and the Bronski troupe orchestrate one last dramatic-smokescreen: a special performance for the visiting Hitler designed to distract the occupiers and provide a path to safety for the Jewish refugees sheltered by Frederick. The performance stumbles at times, but it achieves its purpose, and the troupe escapes the clutches of Occupied Poland. They reach the airport, where German security briefly closes in, but Sobinski’s piloting carries them to the skies and on to England.

In gratitude, the British government grants the Bronskis permission to perform in London, even as the finale of their journey hints at a bitter irony: on the stage in London, a new, young soldier rises and leaves Frederick’s renowned To be or not to be speech unfinished, signaling that the cost of war has touched even their most iconic moments.