SummaryIn 1941, during their march on Moscow, the Nazis discovered the mass graves of 22,00 Polish intellectuals, clergy and officers. Katyn is the story of Joseph Stalin's order to execute these people.
Directed By:Andrzej Wajda
Katyn
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
81
User score
Generally Favorable
6.7
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
94% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
6% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
There's no redemption here. Indeed, if anything is redemptive about Katyn , it's the fact of the film itself.
90
This tenacious artist has now given his father a proper memorial and has reasserted, with power and grace, the history and identity of his nearly effaced country.
User score
Generally Favorable
69% Positive
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
19% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
12% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Apr 17, 2013
8
Superb and powerful. A good one from Andrzej Wajda. Story, cinematography, directing and others are really exceptional. For a person who did not know anything about Katyn, it was a good documentary-like too.
Oct 9, 2011
8
I was afraid the film would be melodramatic and oozing with patriotism - but this is still a Wajda film. The exemplary life stories entangled in this gruesome part of history are written convincingly and enthrallingly written. The directing, cinematography etc. is superb, as one has come to expect from Wajda. On top of it, the Polish actors (and especially actresses!) have done a great job as well.
88
Now Wajda has brought some small measure of rest to their names, to Poland, and to history.
83
Wajda makes the murders look horrific and jangled, like something out of "Hostel," then ends Katyn with extended darkness and silence, allowing the audience to mourn for the death of a nation.
80
The period sets, costumes and cinematography all superbly recreate the brutal era, grand illusions and everyday suffering of the Poles under both the Nazis and the Soviets.
70
While never less than fascinating, Katyn alternates between scenes of tremendous power and sequences most kindly described as dutiful. It's as if the artist is never certain whether he is making this movie for himself, his father, or the entire nation.
60
A pensive and searching drama that explores how deep into the national psyche these murders in the Katyn forest went.
Oct 9, 2016
7
In my opinion it wasn't the best war movie, even though the story about Katyn is such a tragical one, but here, it felt like they didn't dig deep enough into it. I liked how they ended it and overall it is a great movie about a topic which was hidden throughout USSR years, but I feel as a movie it could have been much more powerful and does not live up to it's full potential
Oct 6, 2021
4
Tackling a heavy topic doesn't guarantee a good movie. The storyline was all over the place. I understand that the intention was to depict different ways in which the massacre has influenced the everyday lives of Polish folk, but the real life outcome simply falls short. Had the director lowered his ambitions, maybe we'd get to see a far more consistent end result.
Production Company:
- Akson Studio
- Telewizja Polska (TVP)
- Polski Instytut Sztuki Filmowej
- Telekomunikacja Polska
Release Date:Feb 18, 2009
Duration:2 h 1 m
Tagline:The untold story of the crime Stalin could not hide.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Polish Film Awards
• 7 Wins & 11 Nominations
Sannio FilmFest
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
