CINEMA: Katyn

Based on fact, this film revolves around the atrocities perpetrated by the Red Army deep in the heart of the Katyn forest during the Second World War.

However, as what occurred there was subject to a cover up by the Russian authorities, this is not so much a straight historical account, but more an exploration of how events impinged on the families and loved ones of those involved; the mothers, brothers, sisters, wives and children of the Polish Army officers and soldiers who simply disappeared.

As the Red Army moved into Poland at the beginning of the war, hundreds of thousands of Polish military personnel found themselves seized and held in Russian internment camps. At first, letters from these men found their way back home to their loved ones, but as the months went on, hundreds of the men simply disappeared leaving their families in limbo – were they still alive, were they injured or ill, were they missing having escaped from captivity, or were they actually already dead?

As the film follows both the men in the camps and the parallel lives of the women left to survive alone in occupied Poland, a rich story of hope, despair, acceptance, resistance and enduring love builds up. Director Andrzej Wajda handles a huge cast and numerous simultaneous storylines with aplomb.

The film never veers into sentimentality, nor is it brutal in its honesty, being both sympathetic and respectful. The fact it can display such humanity and decency in the face of such appalling deeds acts as a testament to those who did survive.

Dee Pilgrim