I went into this movie without knowing much about it, besides that it was directed by Andrzej Wajda, perhaps the best known, and most talented of the Polish directors that I'm familiar with. I had decently sized expectations, but I didn't expect it to be like really nothing I've seen when it comes to war films.
I've seen war films from countries that feature stories not commonly known, but they're usually set during an occupation, and don't go on to cover what happened after to the government in place, etc. Katyn goes through not only what took place during the Nazi occupation, but also what happened after, and this is more interesting than even the occupation. The story is told through the eyes of a few different people, and centers around the massacre in the Katyn forest in 1940, and the efforts the Soviets made to blame it on the Nazis, and also the effort made by the puppet Polish government to push it on the Nazis as well. Apparently Andrzej Wajda's father was one of the victims, which explains the very personal heir the film has.
Performance wise it's hard to highlight any one person since they all just seemed so authentic. This was obviously a very important film to them, which makes me a little ashamed to admit I didn't even know this had occurred until I saw this film. Highly recommended, and it's out on reg. 1 dvd, so check it out if you can.
I've seen war films from countries that feature stories not commonly known, but they're usually set during an occupation, and don't go on to cover what happened after to the government in place, etc. Katyn goes through not only what took place during the Nazi occupation, but also what happened after, and this is more interesting than even the occupation. The story is told through the eyes of a few different people, and centers around the massacre in the Katyn forest in 1940, and the efforts the Soviets made to blame it on the Nazis, and also the effort made by the puppet Polish government to push it on the Nazis as well. Apparently Andrzej Wajda's father was one of the victims, which explains the very personal heir the film has.
Performance wise it's hard to highlight any one person since they all just seemed so authentic. This was obviously a very important film to them, which makes me a little ashamed to admit I didn't even know this had occurred until I saw this film. Highly recommended, and it's out on reg. 1 dvd, so check it out if you can.
