[1] As in the poem, conflict between the Soplica and Horeszko families serves as a backdrop for discussion of issues of Polish national unity and the struggle for independence.
[2] Pan Tadeusz is told in flashbacks as the author, Adam Mickiewicz, reads his work to a group of elderly exiles in Paris.
Gervazy will not forgive and forget that in 1792, the last household lord of the Horeszkos was killed by Jacek Soplica and as a result, the latter was rewarded with the former's castle by the Russian colonizers.
To take vengeance on the Soplica family, the Count and Gervazy head to the village of Dobrzyn to recruit some of the gentry to help destroy them.
Nonetheless, the Soplica's supply weapons and free the rebels, which ultimately allows both Poles and Lithuanians to come together to fight the Russians.
As news is received that Napoleon has declared war on Russia, the Count and Tadeusz, forgetting their promised duel, head off to join the French troops marching against the Russians.
[4] The film ends, as it began, with many of the protagonists, now emigres in Paris, listening to Adam Mickiewicz as he reads from his poem about the homeland to which they cannot return.
While Wajda's Neo Realist trilogy of Pokolenie (A Generation) (1954), Kanał (Canal) (1957), and Popiół i diament (Ashes and Diamonds) (1958) was quoted as inspiration by, for instance, Martin Scorsese, and Wajda's diptych, Człowiek z marmuru (Man of Marble) (1976) and Człowiek z żelaza (Man of Iron) (1981), were hailed by Western European critics as among the better films from beyond the Iron Curtain, Pan Tadeusz's success was largely confined to Poland.
Pan Tadeusz played in eastern Europe during the latter half of 1999, featured at the Berlin Film Festival, and endured a limited, albeit financially unsuccessful, run in the US early in 2000.
He is better known internationally for his scores in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Death and the Maiden, The Portrait of a Lady, The Pianist, The Truman Show and The Ninth Gate.
[8] Pan Tadeusz was Poland's official Best Foreign Language Film submission at the 72nd Academy Awards, but did not manage to receive a nomination.