Katyn (2007)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Andrzej Wajda

Writers:

Andrzej Mularczyk (story)
Przemyslaw Nowakowski (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

21 September 2007 (Poland)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Plot:

An examination of the Soviet slaughter of thousands of Polish officers and citizens in the Katyn forest in 1940. |

Plot Keywords:

Katyn Forest | Slaughter | Officer | Cover Up | Female Perspective

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 12 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Andrzej Chyra	...	Lt. Jerzy
Maja Ostaszewska	...	Anna
Artur Zmijewski	...	Andrzej
Danuta Stenka	...	Róza
Jan Englert	...	General
Magdalena Cielecka	...	Agnieszka
Agnieszka Glinska	...	Irena
Pawel Malaszynski	...	Lt. Piotr
Maja Komorowska	...	Andrzej's Mother
Wladyslaw Kowalski	...	Professor Jan
Antoni Pawlicki	...	Tadeusz
Agnieszka Kawiorska	...	Ewa
Sergey Garmash	...	Maj. Popov
Joachim Paul Assböck	...	Obersturmbannführer Brunon Müller (as Joachim Assböck)
Waldemar Barwinski	...	Polish Officer
Sebastian Bezzel	...	Propaganda Abteilung Officer
Jacek Braciak	...	Lt. Klin
Stanislaw Brudny	...	Old Man at the Bridge
Stanislawa Celinska	...	Stasia
Leon Charewicz	...	UB Major
Waldemar Czyszak
Alicja Dabrowska	...	Actress
Oleg Drach	...	Commisar (as Oleh Drach)
Aleksander Fabisiak	...	Teacher
Wiktoria Gasiewska	...	Weronika
Krzysztof Globisz	...	Professor of Chemistry
Krzysztof Kolberger	...	Priest
Zbigniew Kozlowski	...	Militia Officer
Rafal Kronenberger
Roman Leus
Janusz Lagodzinski
Olgierd Lukaszewicz	...	Priest
Maria Maj	...	Wanda Wasilewska (voice)
Tomasz Miedzik
Józef Mika	...	German Translator
Andrzej Pieczynski	...	German Soldier
Leszek Piskorz	...	Priest
Waldemar Pokromski	...	Barber
Dariusz Poleszak	...	German Officer
Jakub Przebindowski	...	Young priest
Anna Radwan	...	Elzbieta
Jacek Romanowski
Rafal Sadowski
Oleg Savkin	...	NKWD Officer (as Oleh Savkin)
Dariusz Toczek	...	Polish Officer
Tadeusz Wojtych	...	Photographer Wladyslaw
Wieslaw Wójcik	...	Postman
Krystyna Zachwatowicz	...	Mrs. Greta
Ilia Zmiejew	...	Lt. Kozlov
Vladimir Abramushkin		(as Wladimir Abramuszkin)
Miroslaw Bala
Wojciech Chorazy
Robert Cichon
Piotr Cichon
Rafal Czachur
Jacek Drozd
Roman Gruszkiewicz
Adam Graczyk
Dymitr Holówko
Marek Karpowicz
Joanna Kawiorska	...	Young Ewa
Józef Kielar
Andrzej Kociubinski
Piotr Kolski
Filip Kowalczyk
Barbara Kurzaj
Grzegorz Kwiecien
Jacek Lenartowicz
Wojciech Leonowicz
Tomasz Leszczynski
Maciej Mikolajczyk
Andrzej Mlynarczyk	...	Officer
Piotr Polak
Jacek Rathe
Modest Rucinski
Szymon Rzaca
Piotr Sieklucki
Klaudia Siemek
Andrzej Sitek
Jakub Snochowski
Krzysztof Szczerbinski
Andrzej Szenajch	...	Professor
Zbigniew Swiderski
Agnieszka Wensorra
Stefan Wójcicki

Directed by
Andrzej Wajda

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Andrzej Mularczyk		story
Przemyslaw Nowakowski		writer
Wladyslaw Pasikowski		writer
Andrzej Wajda		writer

Produced by
Katarzyna Fukacz-Cebula	....	executive producer
Michal Kwiecinski	....	executive producer
Michal Kwiecinski	....	producer
Dominique Lesage	....	co-producer
Dariusz Wieromiejczyk	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Krzysztof Penderecki

Cinematography by
Pawel Edelman

Film Editing by
Milenia Fiedler
Rafal Listopad

Casting by
Ewa Brodzka

Production Design by
Magdalena Dipont

Art Direction by
Marek Kukawski
Ryszard Melliwa

Set Decoration by
Wieslawa Chojkowska

Costume Design by
Magdalena Biedrzycka

Makeup Department
Aneta Brzozowska	....	makeup designer
Alicja Kozlowska	....	makeup designer
Tomasz Matraszek	....	makeup artist
Waldemar Pokromski	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Dagmara Bonczyk	....	unit production manager
Aleksandra Frosztega	....	unit production manager
Magdalena Jaworska	....	assistant production manager
Jerzy Mizak	....	unit production manager
Kamil Przelecki	....	production manager
Lukasz Zielinski	....	assistant production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ewa Brodzka	....	second unit director
Marek Cydorowicz	....	second unit director
Agnieszka Glinska	....	first assistant director
Marcin Starzecki	....	trainee assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Waldemar Weiss	....	construction coordinator

Sound Department
Leszek Freund	....	sound recordist
Jacek Hamela	....	sound
Marek Wronko	....	sound recordist

Visual Effects by
Jakub Knapik	....	visual effects
Radoslaw Rekita	....	digital intermediate conform editor
Jarek Sawko	....	visual effects supervisor
Filip Stylinski	....	digital intermediate conform editor
Vacek Szawdyn	....	visual effects
Albert Szostkiewicz	....	digital compositor
Dorota Wolnicka-Szczesniak	....	visual effects producer
Bruce Jurgens	....	visual effects consultant (uncredited)

Stunts
Marcin Bak	....	stunts
Mateusz Bodzioch	....	stunts
Piotr Cichon	....	stunts
Robert Cichon	....	stunts
Michal Derlicki	....	stunts
Jacek Drozd	....	stunts
Roman Gruszkiewicz	....	stunts
Michal Ignatowicz	....	stunts
Ryszard Janikowski	....	stunt coordinator
Andrzej Kociubinski	....	stunts
Tomasz Kowalski	....	stunts
Robert Krzycholik	....	stunts
Grzegorz Kulesza	....	stunts
Lukasz Lipiarz	....	stunts
Tomasz Marszalek	....	stunts
Adam Matusiak	....	stunts
Marek Mirenski	....	stunts
Robert Morze	....	stunts
Jaroslaw Olszewski	....	stunts
Robert Poplawski	....	stunts
Jacek Rathe	....	stunts
Andrzej Sitek	....	stunts
Zbigniew Swiderski	....	stunts
Waclaw Szmalec	....	stunts
Stefan Wójcicki	....	stunts
Jacek Wrzosek	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Piotr Bukojemski	....	additional camerawork
Andrzej Glacel	....	Steadicam operator
Krzysztof Mieszkowski	....	assistant camera
Jeremiasz Prokopowicz	....	camera operator
Marek Rajca	....	additional cinematographer
Piotr Sobocinski Jr.	....	assistant camera
Maurizio Tiella	....	additional camerawork

Production Companies

• Akson Studio
• TVP S.A.
• Polski Instytut Sztuki Filmowej
• Telekomunikacja Polska

Distributors

• Koch Lorber Films (2009) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Kurt Media (2009) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Moviemobz Rain (2009) (Brazil) (theatrical)
• Artificial Eye (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Atlantic Film (2008) (Sweden) (DVD)
• KinoVista (2008) (France) (all media)
• MEED Films (2008) (Lithuania) (all media)
• Mirada Distribution (2009) (Argentina) (all media)
• Movimento Film (2009) (Italy) (all media)
• Pan Vision Oy (2009) (Finland) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Paramount Filmes do Brasil (2009) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Videorama (2008) (Greece) (all media)

Also Known As:

Post mortem. Opowiesc katynska (Poland) (working title)

Runtime:

Germany:118 min (Berlin International Film Festival) | Argentina:118 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival) | USA:121 min

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish | Russian | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Sweden:15 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-15 | Ireland:15A

Filming Locations:

Kasina Wielka, Poland

Company:

Akson Studio

Trivia:

Poland's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008).

Goofs:

Continuity: (1h 24min in): When Tadeusz tears down the poster, we can see that he rips most of it from the wall. In the next scene when soldiers come, there is a close-up of a soldier holding the pieces of the poster that are much larger than those left by Tadeusz.

Movie Connections:

References Vesyolye rebyata (1934)

Ingeniously exposure of the darkest face of humanity.

This is not an average Oscar nominated Hollywood movie. There are few movies that are able to expose abyss of human nature, the darkest one in this case. It is not the most gruesome scenes, as one who knows the historical facts may expect to see, create emotional terror. Wajda masterfully leads the viewer deeply into reflections on how horrible humanity can become. There is little hope to change the course of the past, and yet when watching the film, one may catch himself hoping for a miracle of such a change. The journey through part of lives of those who were a part of this dark history is unforgettable.

As one can describe the included in Bethoveen's 9th "Ode to Joy" as the aspiration of humanity to reaching the best of itself, this movie shows what is the opposite alternative...