Katyń is a 2007 Polish film about the 1940 Katyn massacre, directed by Academy Honorary Award winner Andrzej Wajda. It is based on the book novelization? Post Mortem: The Story of Katyn by Andrzej Mularczyk. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film for the 80th.



Synopsis:

Katyn, is the story that Andrzej Wajda has waited a lifetime to tell: Katyn is the name of the forest where the Soviets secretly murdered 15,000 Polish officers, intellectuals and professionals over a 3-day period in 1940 (during which a 14-year-old Wajda lost his own father). Stalin’s purpose was to destroy those elements of the population who would be most resistant to Soviet control following WWII. For decades the truth was obfuscated, with the Nazis often blamed for the atrocity. Half a century later, in 1990, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev admitted his nation’s responsibility. In this elegant production, Wajda recreates war-torn Poland and the stories of both the perpetrators and their victims. An Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film in 2008, it was a huge hit in Poland, playing in nearly every cinema in the country, and selling more than 2.7 million tickets in a nation of only 39 million.



Katyn is the 82-year-old Wajda’s first film in five years. He is best known in the U.S. for his WWII trilogy -- A Generation (1954), Kanal (1957) and Ashes and Diamonds (1958) -- as well as for Man of Marble (1977), Man of Iron (1981) and Danton (1983). Wajda was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2000 and was the subject of a month-long retrospective this past fall at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. --© Film Forum

With Katyn, celebrated Polish director Andrzej Wajda delivers a sweeping drama that exposes an oft-overlooked moment in WWII history. After the Nazis stormed into Poland, Stalin ordered Russian soldiers into the country as well, in order to oversee the imprisonment of all Polish officers. As these prisoners fearfully struggled to make sense of what was happening to them, the women in their lives--wives, siblings, mothers, daughters--anxiously awaited their return. Though mystery shrouded the events that were to unfold, these women eventually learned the bitter truth. Sadly, they were ordered to remain silent due to post-war PolandÂ’s dependence on Russia.

 

Though he won an honorary Oscar in 2000, Wajda proves with Katyn that he has no intention of slowing down. Based on a novel by Andrzej Mularczyck (POST MORTEM), Wajda elevates it into a work of pure cinema. It helps that heÂ’s chosen some truly accomplished collaborators: Pawel EdelmanÂ’s richly textured cinematography and Krzysztof PendereckiÂ’s powerful, resonant score help to further establish an atmosphere of beautiful sorrow. The cast--including Maja Osteszewska, Artur Zmijewski, and Andrzej Chyra--rise to the challenge as well, bringing a humanity and warmth to their characters that pack an even more devastating emotional punch. 

 

Starring: 

Andrzej Chyra, as Jerzy
Artur Żmijewski, as Andrzej
Maja Ostaszewska, as Anna
Wiktoria Gąsiewska, as Weronika ("Nika")
Władysław Kowalski, as father of Andrzej
Maja Komorowska, as mother of Andrzej
Jan Englert, as General
Danuta Stenka, as Róża, wife of General
Sergei Garmash, as Captain Popov
Agnieszka Kawiorska, as Ewa, daughter of General and Róża
Stanisława Celińska, as Stasia
Paweł Małaszyński, as Piotr
Magdalena Cielecka, as sister of Piotr
Agnieszka Glińska, as sister of Piotr
Anna Radwan, as Anna
Antoni Pawlicki, as Tadeusz, son of Elżbieta
Alicja Dąbrowska, as an actress
Jakub Przebindowski, as priest Wikary
Krzysztof Globisz, as a medical doctor