I was hoping this movie would work because it is about an important event in Poland during World War II. Over twenty thousand Polish soldiers were killed by the Russians prior to the German invasion in 1941. The Germans found the massacre site and 'told the truth'. Unfortunately (for obvious reasons) they were not believed (or many people were sceptical). The Russians during, and more forcefully after the war, blamed the Germans. Eventually the Russians were proved to have committed this massacre – such were the ways of Stalinist Russia.
This film starts off very well with a woman (and her young daughter) trying to locate her husband. She is literally caught between Russian and German forces in 1939. She eventually learns that her husband is being held by the Russians. We feel her confusion and empathize with her plight. She becomes trapped in Russian occupied Poland.
It is here that the film slowly starts to unravel (somewhat). She is staying with a Russian soldier who is also hiding another woman with her daughter. Other Russian soldiers come and take this other woman and her daughter but for whatever reason the sympathetic soldier decides to protect her. In the next scene she is now in German occupied Poland in Krakow – that seemed a questionable transition. We are then introduced to another woman – a wife of a General who is also being held prisoner by the Russians. Once more we feel their confusion and their faint hopes as they wait forlornly for news of their husbands.
By wars end (mid-way through the film) a new group of characters are introduced. One is killed off after only a few scenes. Scenes introducing new sub-plots and characters shift so rapidly it becomes difficult to feel coherence.
The ending is compelling and gruesome. But unfortunately there is no final wrap-up. It would have been nice to know when the world came to really know the official truth of Katyn – it was still a controversy in the mid-1970's. Did the Soviet regime ever acknowledge its' crimes?
Obviously this movie was only possible after the end of the Soviet occupation of Poland in 1990 and to some extent,that in itself, makes it worthwhile to watch.
This film starts off very well with a woman (and her young daughter) trying to locate her husband. She is literally caught between Russian and German forces in 1939. She eventually learns that her husband is being held by the Russians. We feel her confusion and empathize with her plight. She becomes trapped in Russian occupied Poland.
It is here that the film slowly starts to unravel (somewhat). She is staying with a Russian soldier who is also hiding another woman with her daughter. Other Russian soldiers come and take this other woman and her daughter but for whatever reason the sympathetic soldier decides to protect her. In the next scene she is now in German occupied Poland in Krakow – that seemed a questionable transition. We are then introduced to another woman – a wife of a General who is also being held prisoner by the Russians. Once more we feel their confusion and their faint hopes as they wait forlornly for news of their husbands.
By wars end (mid-way through the film) a new group of characters are introduced. One is killed off after only a few scenes. Scenes introducing new sub-plots and characters shift so rapidly it becomes difficult to feel coherence.
The ending is compelling and gruesome. But unfortunately there is no final wrap-up. It would have been nice to know when the world came to really know the official truth of Katyn – it was still a controversy in the mid-1970's. Did the Soviet regime ever acknowledge its' crimes?
Obviously this movie was only possible after the end of the Soviet occupation of Poland in 1990 and to some extent,that in itself, makes it worthwhile to watch.