指挥官维尼裘斯（帕维·德朗柯 Pawel Delag 饰）深深的爱着身在罗马的人质公主丽姬娅（玛达琳娜·米尔卡兹 Magdalena Mielcarz 饰），于是，残暴的尼禄皇帝（克兹佐夫·马扎克 Krzysztof Majchrzak 饰）将丽姬娅赏赐给了维尼裘斯为妻。然而，丽姬娅公主是一个虔诚的基督教徒，她不能忍受维尼裘斯靠杀戮和掠夺过活，丽姬娅选择了离开维尼裘斯。
为了挽回丽姬娅，维尼裘斯找到了基督教的秘密集会处，开始聆听教义，试图理解基督教的核心思想，想通过此走进丽姬娅的内心。当维尼裘斯回宫时，尼禄皇帝正在焚烧罗马城，而丽姬娅就在其中，维尼裘斯闯入火海救出了爱人。皇后非常嫉妒维尼裘斯和丽姬娅之间坚贞的爱情，于是设计陷害。

《影子》是50年代-60年代初波兰电影学院派的代表作，与Andrzej Munk的《倒霉》《铁轨上的男人》等片齐名。是卡瓦莱罗维奇最好的作品之一。获嘎纳金棕榈和英国学院奖最佳影片提名。
The first screenplay, based on one of his own stories, by noted writer Alexander Scibor-Rylski, SHADOW is a Rashomon-like investigation into the life of a man found dead after having been hurled from a train. As security agents, policemen and a medical examiner begin to piece together his identity, three accounts emerge: one set during the war, one in the immediate aftermath, and one in then contemporary Poland. In each, the murdered victim seems to have been a mysterious, ambiguous presence, of shifting loyalties and suspicious connections, who invariably set himself against the ruling powers of the time. Critics at the time attacked the film for its depiction of a world rife with secret agents and hidden enemies - a favorite Stalinist theme - yet the film seems rather to insist on how heroism or villany are so often matters of point of view and timing.
Polish filmmaker Jerzy Kawalerowicz was once considered one of his country's most talented post-WW II directors, noted for his powerful, detail-oriented imagery. Kawalerowicz was versatile and his subjects ranged from historical dramas to intense psychological studies. He made his directorial debut in 1951 after working as an assistant director. In 1955 Kawalerowicz was appointed head of the prestigious KADR production unit. He held the position again in 1972. In 1983, Kawalerowicz alienated himself from many of his peers by signing communist government-generated reports condemning all filmmakers aligned with the Solidarity Movement and promoting the destruction of production units run by long time associates Wajda and Zanussi.
Born in Gwozdziec, Poland (now Gvozdets, Ukraine), Jerzy Kawalerowicz was noted for his powerful, detail-oriented imagery and the depth of ideas in his films. After working as an assistant director, he made his directorial debut with the 1951 film The Village Mill (Gromada). He was a leading figure in the Polish Film School, and his films Shadow (Cien, 1956) and Night Train (Pociag, 1959) constitute some of that movement's best work.
Other noted works by Kawalerowicz include Mother Joan of the Angels (Matka Joanna od aniolów, 1961) and a 1966 adaptation of Boleslaw Prus' historical novel, Pharaoh, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Roza (Lucyna Winnicka) marries a promising young architect, Juliusz (Roland Glowacki); for a few months, they have a blissful life together. Then World War II breaks out and within weeks Juliusz is deported to a concentration camp. Months, and then years go by, until Roza abandons any hope that her husband might return. She meets and falls in love with another man, and tries to put her life back together, but one day, unexpectedly, Juliusz does return - a shattered, mere ghost of his former self, physically crippled and tormented by memories of the camps. First out of duty, then out of pity, Roza starts to care for him, but her feelings slowly are transformed into a kind of revulsion. Kawalerowicz here takes up a theme that would be frequently addressed by later Polish films: the lingering psychological and emotional scars wrought by the war, a kind of weight from the past impeding the creation of any kind of future.

Takes place on an ocean liner from Canada to Poland. It is a story of several people with pasts and problems stemming from uncomfortable confrontations. The main confrontation is between a Polish doctor with a heart condition meeting a man he knew before. Neither of them was willing to admit their differences from the college days. The meeting torments the doctor enough to start him drinking and dying of a heart attack.