February 18, 2009
Studio: Koch Lorber Films
Director: Andrzej Wajda
MPAA Rating: N/A
Screenwriters: Andrzej Wajda, Wladyslaw Pasikowski, Przemyslaw Nowakowski, Andrej Mularczyk
Starring: Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Zmijewski, Andrzej Chyra, Jan Englert
Copyright Holder: N/A
Based on Andrzej Mularczyk's novel Post Mortem. "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.