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Katyn – movie reviewPaul Glasser | May 02, 2008 | 3 comments | Print | E-mail
It remained a taboo subject until after the Communist regime collapsed in 1989. Katyn is an unflinching account of the Polish officers who were killed in the Katyn Forest Massacre in 1940 and how the aftermath affected their families and Polish society as a whole. The film is based on the novel Post Mortem by Andrzej Mularczyk and was nominated as the best foreign language film at the Oscars. It lost out to the powerful film Die Falscher (The Counterfeiters). The film was a very personal project for director Andrzej Wajda, whose father was murdered by the NKVD. He told the BBC he never thought he would be able to make the film because Communist officials would censor him. In fact, it remained a taboo subject until after the Communist regime collapsed in 1989. The Russians only admitted responsibility for the atrocity in 1990. The film does an excellent job of portraying the deep physical, mental and psychological wounds left by the Katyn Massacre. An estimated 22,000 Polish officers and NCOs were taken prisoner in the wake of the Soviet invasion in 1939 and later executed. An entire generation of leaders in a potentially free and democratic society was wiped out, including thousands of lawyers, engineers, professors and artists. ![]() Polish family awaits news However, the universal nature of the massacre is both a strength and a weakness in the film. Wajda focuses mainly on a few officers from the 8 Uhlans Regiment and develops the characters of Lt. Jerzy (played by Andrzej Chyra) and an officer’s wife Anna (played by Maja Ostaszewska) well. However, in an effort to show the depth of the Katyn Massacre, the story is frequently interrupted by some detours that introduce interesting but short-lived characters and tangents. ![]() Prisoner in Katyn Archival footage form German and Soviet propaganda films are also employed to bring home the immensity and brutality of the massacre. The lens pans over rows upon rows of corpses that stretch across the landscape. Forensic investigators examine the desiccated bodies of soldiers still clutching rosaries or wearing homespun sweaters when they died. Acclaimed Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki contributes a dark and foreboding classical soundtrack to the film, but silence proves equally effective when the viewer is left in total quiet to read the credits as they scroll by like a grim tableau. Although Wajda told the BBC he hoped his film would soothe and atone for the wounds of Katyn, the film provoked a short clash in the media between Polish and Russian newspapers. Thousands of graves of Polish victims are still undisclosed or in a state of disrepair.
Tags: movies, World War II
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3 Comments to “Katyn – movie review”
Why has this film been so difficult to find here in the United States. It was nominated for Best Foreign FIlm Oscar in 2008 but it was next to impossible to find a showing with the exception of a few specialty cinemas.
By mike provinski on Feb 26, 2009 at 5:55 pm
As a descendant of Polish immigrants, I was astounded when I stumbled across this movie online while researching Polish history. Until that moment, I had not heard of Katyn. It displayed to me the absolute barbarism that men treat their fellow man. Poland was drawn and quartered in World War II and the scars of that time are still seen today. The movie became something personal to me as did the research I’ve done on the subject since. The atrocities displayed in this movie took place at the same time that the Jews of Poland were being murdered. Christians and Jews alike were systematically butchered and whether they died as Christians or Jews, the one common bond that connected them was that the died as Poles. May they ALL be remembered.
By Bennett on Apr 13, 2009 at 8:57 pm
I was told about Katyn from my Father since I was a young boy. My dad made such a big deal about it that he eventually did something about it here in Baltimore with the organization of a Katyn Memorial Fund. He collected money on his own in the beginning from working Polish Festivals as the owner of a booth selling food. As I grew up helping him, I began to appreciate what exactly he was doing and the pride he had for his Polish roots. My father was trying to right a wrong and put the truth out there for all to here. The Katyn Forrest Memorial that my father help start is proudly on display in Baltimore, and unforunately was erected after my dad’s death in 02/1993. I know my dad would be so proud to have seen both the Memorial and now the movie Katyn come to fruition. I know that I’ve never been more proud to be a Pole because of his unselfish actions all those years when many people didn’t believe him. God Bless you dad, Major Clement A. Knefel
By C. Knefel on Jul 26, 2009 at 10:33 am