Product Description

KATYN is the story of Polish army officers murdered by the Russia secret police in the Katyn forest during the Second World War and the families who, unaware of the crime, were still waiting for their husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers to return. It is a film about the continuing struggle over History and memory, and an uncompromising exploration of the Russian cover up of the massacre that prevented the Polish people from commemorating those that had been killed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #480 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-10-05
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: Polish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 115 minutes

Synopsis
Celebrated Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda takes the helm for this Oscar-nominated drama detailing the harrowing events surrounding the 1940 massacre of captured Polish army officers in the Katyn Forest. A unique blend of conventional narrative and documentary-style filmmaking, KATYN opens in the spring of 1940, just as the Soviet Secret police execute a group of Polish officers. On September 1, 1939, Germen forces had descended upon Poland, paving the way for the Red Army to occupy east Poland as part of the Hitler-Stalin pact. As the Red Army assumed control of east Poland, all officers in the Polish army were placed in Soviet custody. Determined to remain loyal to the army despite the growing danger, Polish officer Andrzej refuses to flee with his wife, Anna. It isn't long before invading forces begin arresting professors in Cracow, and as the detainees languish in prison camps, their families start to fear that they'll never see their loved ones again. Flash forward to April 1943, and the Germans announce the discovery of mass graves. While Anna is relieved not to hear her husband's name on the list of bodies discovered, countless others are left to grieve their losses with no explanation or consolation. January 18, 1945: Cracow is liberated by the Red Army, and propagandist newsreels from the Soviet Union blame German forces for the massacre at Katyn. It is at that point that the fine line between collaboration and resistance within the People's Republic of Poland becomes exceptionally blurred. As the details surrounding the massacre gradually begin to emerge, Wajda reveals precisely how this horrifying massacre unfolded by flashing back to the spring of 1940 for an extended sequence in which Polish officer internees are transported by railroad to Smolensk and methodically dispatched before being casually buried in a mass grave.

Customer Reviews

Like powerful, well-made war films? Then please read on...

Before I watched this film I knew nothing of the awful events that happened in the Katyn Forest. The 14000-22000(est) murders were ordered at the behest of Stalin's Soviet Government and the events that occured were subject to a subsequent cover-up and 50 year denial. Polish-Russian relations still suffer to this day because of it.

The story is told through a young Polish captain and his family; and shows their ensuing turmoil and mental torture. The film also features authentic Nazi German and Soviet newsreels from the time woven into the story and real footage of the mass graves are shown shortly after its discovery. This is not easy viewing...

Frequently disturbing and uncomfortable; Kaytn is a film with noble intentions of documenting an awful atrocity - which is still clearly raw in the hearts of all Polish people.

Katyn is comparable in tone and scale to Polanski's 'The Pianist'.

Katyn was nominated for 'Best Foreign Language Film' at 2008 Acadamy Awards.

The film has been produced on a large budget and shot on a scale which is rarely seen in foreign funded films - and the Katyn Massacre story itself is certainly handled with all the respect it deserves. It is well directed by Wadja and the cinamatography is impressive throughout. Also the casting is noticably top-drawer.

Its transfer to Blu-ray will only compliment it further.

I cannot recommend highly enough.

A piece of history that shaped Europe
This is a film that should be widely seen. It deals with the Soviet massacre of Polish officers in the second world war. Not only was this a devastating killing on a large scale - more than 20,000 officers were killed - but also it was a Soviet cover up as they tampered with evidence to blame the Germans.

The film takes the perspective of families caught up in the atrocity and its aftermath. It tells the story of men killed and the elderly parents, wives, daughters or sisters they left behind. Those who could not accept that the truth was buried, to those who took a pragmatic view dealing with the new regime as they found it but doing what they could to ensure Poland's survival.

Poland took a geographically central role in the second world war. Caught between the Germans and the Soviets one officer wryly talks about the duration of their incarceration noting that it's between the 1000 year Reich and communism being forever!

As testament to the film, the audience was absolutely silent at the end.

Katyn - a powerful film
This is a poweful film about the way Poland and its people were abused by both Germany and the Soviet Union in WWII. It exposes the Russians' attempted cover-up of their massacre of thousands of Polish military officers.