Lawa is a screen adaptation of Dziady (Forefathers' Eve), a nineteenth-century verse drama by Adam Mickiewicz. The work depicts Poland under the Russian rule during the nineteenth century, interweaving political and personal drama with a semi-pagan rite during which needy souls communicate with the living on the night of "Forefathers' Eve". In Poland, Mickiewicz's Dziady is commonly considered as an iconic work of Polish Romantic patriotism. Konwicki's own relationship to Romanticism is more complex: he is critical of its philosophy and draws on its formal and stylistic resources. The movie is entirely in verse which gives it a feel of a theatrical performance... with cinematic image as its decor.