The Katyn massacre is a dark day of Polish history when as many as 20,000 Polish POWs , mainly army officers were murdered in the Russian forest of Katyn by the Soviet NKVD in the Spring of 1940 . After their invasion of the Soviet Union the Nazis found the mass graves and used them as an anti Bolshevik propaganda coup . Accusation and counter accusation between the Nazis and Soviets followed but there was little doubt amongst neutral observers like the International Red Cross and the Polish government in exile that it was the Soviet Union who were behind the atrocity . This film tells the often forgotten story behind the Katyn massacre
The story starts by pointing out the problem Poland had at the outbreak of the second world war . Surrounded by Germany on their Western Border and Russia on their Eastern border . Worse still Germany is ruled by racist demagogues who consider Poles " the wrong sort of Europeans " while Russia is a communist state who consider Poles to be " reactionary nationalistic Catholic fundamentalists " . In political terms the Poles have got a choice between fatal heart disease and terminal cancer and it's summed up by a conversation between two POWs:
" A thousand year Reich and communism lasts for ever "
" This alliance won't last a year . They'll need us "
" Who will ? "
The first half hour is compelling stuff . It's slightly similar to a holocaust movie but is more complex since the characters are clutching at straws hoping that one side - if not better than the other - is less worse . The main protagonist Anna has a relative taken away by the Nazis only for him return a few months later as a pile of ashes . This proves to her the Soviets will treat her captured husband less harshly . Unfortunately they don't
As the film progresses the intensity sadly lessens as more characters are introduced but distract from the plot proper . A young nationalistic Pole appears in what appears to be a cynical attempt to introduce a romantic subplot but he's killed off leaving the audience wondering why he was included in the first place . Anna is forced by the Nazi occupiers to condemn the murder of her husband and the other officers at Katyn and you'll sit there expecting this plot turn to come back to haunt her when the Soviets occupy her homeland but this thread disappears
All in all this is a slightly disappointing film from Andrzej Wajda who made the classic KANAL , a film I saw once twenty years ago and is seared in to my memory . KATYN is a good film though unfortunately doesn't maintain its early brilliance . It's probably summed up by Pawel Edelman's cinematography where primary colours are to the fore but the rest of the colours are muted and cold
The story starts by pointing out the problem Poland had at the outbreak of the second world war . Surrounded by Germany on their Western Border and Russia on their Eastern border . Worse still Germany is ruled by racist demagogues who consider Poles " the wrong sort of Europeans " while Russia is a communist state who consider Poles to be " reactionary nationalistic Catholic fundamentalists " . In political terms the Poles have got a choice between fatal heart disease and terminal cancer and it's summed up by a conversation between two POWs:
" A thousand year Reich and communism lasts for ever "
" This alliance won't last a year . They'll need us "
" Who will ? "
The first half hour is compelling stuff . It's slightly similar to a holocaust movie but is more complex since the characters are clutching at straws hoping that one side - if not better than the other - is less worse . The main protagonist Anna has a relative taken away by the Nazis only for him return a few months later as a pile of ashes . This proves to her the Soviets will treat her captured husband less harshly . Unfortunately they don't
As the film progresses the intensity sadly lessens as more characters are introduced but distract from the plot proper . A young nationalistic Pole appears in what appears to be a cynical attempt to introduce a romantic subplot but he's killed off leaving the audience wondering why he was included in the first place . Anna is forced by the Nazi occupiers to condemn the murder of her husband and the other officers at Katyn and you'll sit there expecting this plot turn to come back to haunt her when the Soviets occupy her homeland but this thread disappears
All in all this is a slightly disappointing film from Andrzej Wajda who made the classic KANAL , a film I saw once twenty years ago and is seared in to my memory . KATYN is a good film though unfortunately doesn't maintain its early brilliance . It's probably summed up by Pawel Edelman's cinematography where primary colours are to the fore but the rest of the colours are muted and cold