Katyn [Blu-ray]

I ordered this movie based off the reviews I had read and just finished the movie ten minutes ago. Well, for a while, the movie shows the Polish officers languishing in captivity right up to April, 1940, but their fate remains a mystery for most of the rest of the movie, when the next scenes take place right after the discovery of the mass graves in 1943, and then right after the Russian armies occupied Poland in 1945. You see a lot of the relatives of the missing men as they mourn their loved ones, and some get bitter when the Soviet propaganda films announce about the Germans committing this massacre of 20,000 Polish officers in the summer of 1941, as opposed to the truth about the massacre in April, 1940. For a while, I thought, "What the hell? Everyone in this movie are all talking about Katyn, but you don't show us exactly WHAT happened to those Polish officers!"Then right after you see a girl arrested by the secret police in Communist Poland after daring to make a tombstone for her missing brother announcing his death at Katyn on April 10, 1940, the truth is revealed by the recovered entries of her brother's diary, and the last scenes of the movie show the Polish officers then being herded off the train and into buses with blacked-out windows as they're driven deep into a forest about 10 kilometers from Smolensk in western Russia. Then the scenes show the execution of a high-ranking Polish general and other prominent officers deep in some kind of building, where the Soviets throw a fresh bucket of water on the floor to wash away the blood of the murdered men, and the bodies are dumped onto trucks. The rest are herded off the vehicles right up to the burial pits and are murdered with a single bullet through the head, some of them saying their last prayers and holding rosaries at the last moments. A single Soviet soldier lingers in the pit of perhaps hundreds of fallen officers, bayoneting anyone who still might be alive right as a bulldozer piles up mounds of dirt into the graves to cover up their crimes. It is the last scene of the entire movie.The Germans had it right when they discovered these mass graves in 1943, just months before the advancing Soviet armies would take control of the site, and announcing these atrocities to be the fault of the Russians, but we refused to believe them, as the Russians happened to be our "ally." Even when the truth was uncovered, it stayed hidden for years. I have the greatest sympathy for Poland, which had been denied their independence by the Russians and Germans since 1772, and then only given a taste of freedom from 1918 to 1939 before that light was extinguished by the invading Germans and then by the Soviets from 1945 until 1989. This movie is one of the best foreign films I have ever watched, but it's hard to describe the feelings you have when you watch the scene of the massacres.

An incredible, heart-rendering human interest story of the tragedy of the Katyn Forest Massacre. This event followed the invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II in which the Soviets attempted to forever obliterate Polish ethnicity by rounding up Polish military leaders, intelligentsia, politicians, and others of influence, transporting them to the USSR, then brutally murdering them and dumping their bodies into mass graves. This wonderfully crafted account of an actual historical event underscores the pain and suffering of both the victims and their families, both during the war and in the aftermath when relatives struggled to find the fate of their lost loved ones. This movie is exclusively a Polish production, and this adds so much to its authenticity because the director, actors, and production staff were well-acquainted with this tragedy and poured their hearts into its making to tell this story. Be sure to view the "extras" for a deeper appreciation of the massacre and the production. "Dzene dobly!", cast and crew, for such a thought-provoking and telling account of this terrible experience in Polish history.

This film tells a double story, one that tells the story of the massacre of 12,000 Polish leaders, Army officers, and intellectuals during the Soviet occupation in 1940 and the way this tragedy affects one family circle. The Nazi occupiers first exhumed the mass grave and (accurately) blamed the Communists; the Communists then lied for years that the Gestapo committed the murder. Both the murder and the lie affect the central family--dangerously and brutally. In the general atrocity of World War II, this stands out, because of how long it went on.

I was stunned by the beauty and the awesome skill of this film. I have not seen a film so perfectly directed, so beautifully acted and stunningly shot since "Tin Drum". Literally, there is not one instance in this film that I would change. It is literally - perfect.On the movie disc, there is an interview with Polish director Wajda who explains that his own father was one of the Katyn victims. Wajda relates how he then watched his own mother die of grief after the war when she finally realized that her husband was dead. Wajda explained that this colored his interpretation of the movie whereby the bulk of those survivors who struggle to come to grips with the horror of the Katyn massacre are almost all women. (Then again, who else was left behind to cope with it?)This film is a masterpiece. And believe me, I do not say that lightly. I watch at least 3 films a week, sometimes as many as 5, so I am sadly aware of the dearth of decent films out there. At least half (if not more) of the films I watch have me pushing the 'fast forward' button within the first 5 minutes of watching. Not this film. I sat riveted to my seat from the opening scene clear through to the unnerving end. (Oh, the ending will tear your heart out.)You must see this film. It is a masterpiece. That is not lightly said. I know films, I watch them, I do not use the word 'masterpiece' lightly. Yet, I use it to describe this film because that is is what this movie is.

Do not look to this movie for inspiration or hope or any sort of warm fuzzy feeling. If you have heard of the Katyn massacre you know, if not be prepared.I found the movie a bit hard to follow in parts but I blame that on my inability to keep up with the subtitles though. A great film based on an awful topic. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys history mixed with good storytelling. Hearing the dialogue in Polish makes it better just keep up with the subtitles. Take a chance, check it out. You won't be disappointed.