Katyń

Andrzej Wajda: Katyń (PL 2007).

PL © 2007 Akson Studio etc. P: Michał Kwieciński. D: Andrzej Wajda. Based on the novel Post Mortem by Andrzej Mularczyk. SC: Andrzej Wajda, Przemysław Nowakowski. DP: Paweł Edelman - 4K digital intermediate. M: Krzysztof Penderecki. ED: Milenia Fiedler, Rafał Listopad. Excerpts from both the German and the Soviet propaganda films, "Im Wald vom Katyn" and "Katynskiego lieso". CAST: Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Żmijewski, Paweł Małaszyński. 122 min. A Polish TV / Polish Embassy print with English subtitles by Jerzy Siemasz. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki 9 April 2009. - The 4K digital intermediate is so well made that I didn't notice it was digital. - A strong historical film that approaches the Katyn massacre in 1940 of 22.000 Polish officers by NKVD from the viewpoint of the survivors. The script is well constructed to convey the profundity of the horror and the pressure on the survivors to lie. - As in Roman Polanski's The Pianist, there is no self-conscious style here. The director's style is unrecognizable, there is perhaps a slight lack of sturdiness and intensity. - The subject-matter is horrible in itself, and the visual and musical expression is calm and dignified. - Certainly one of Wajda's key films beside Ashes and Diamonds and The Man of Marble.