This joint British- Polish movie delves into one of the darkest corners of WW2 history, that of the horrific and systematic execution of 22,000 Poles by the Soviet Army at a forest near Katyn in eastern Poland in 1940. Even before the horrendous indignities imposed on Poland in WW2, it had been regularly overrun and dominated by the neighboring earlier European powers (Prussia then united Germany, Austro-Hungary and Tsarist Russia). When Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939 triggering WW2, Stalin (who long harbored ambitions over eastern Poland), invaded Poland from the east and rounded up tens of thousands of not just Polish troops but the Soviets targeted officers and the elites and leaders of Polish society there (doctors, lawyers, academics, teachers, mayors and businessmen) and they were brutally killed in execution style shots to the head into shallow graves. These graves were discovered by the Germans when they invaded Russia in 1941 but when the Red Army swept west driving back the Germans in 1944, to cover their horrific crime against humanity, they blamed the atrocity on the Nazis, a fiction the Allies were happy to publicly believe so as to appease Stalin in the fragile Cold War environment post war.
The movie tracks the efforts of small town journalist Stephen Underwood (Alex Pettyfer) to unearth the truth of what really happened at Katyn. He lived near a camp of Polish soldiers of the Free Polish Army that had fled Poland and by 1947, no longer enjoyed the support of the British government due to the harsh realities of Cold War diplomacy. Underwood's key contact is Colonel Janusz Pietrowski (Will Thorp) who knows the truth but can do nothing with it. Underwood wants to unearth the proof and publish it but is discouraged at every turn, by his editor Frank Hamilton (Michael Gambon), by local Army Intelligence and even by his own Army officer brother but who eventually ends up providing crucial help.
A major breakthrough occurs when it becomes apparent that a Russian peasant called Michael Loboda (Robert Wieckiewicz) living in Eastern Poland, was a witness to the original atrocity and, when helping the Germans uncover some of the graves, finds the journal of a young Polish soldier and takes and hides it. It chronicles this boy's time and treatment in Soviet captivity as he'd managed to keep it hidden. Loboda miraculously escapes to England before the Russians invade again. Underwood tries to persuade Michael to give up the dairy but he refuses fearing for his life so Underwood sneaks into the camp and steals it from Michael whilst sleeping drunk. Underwood gets his typist's Polish father to translate the diary and then he knows that with the diary and Michael's eye witness testimony, he holds the irrefutable proof of what really happened. Col. Pietrowski persuades Michael to give his account to Stephen and it is recorded with a primitive record disc recorder.
The story takes the ultimate sinister turn. Stephen has been having an affair with Jeanette Mitchell (Tulalah Riley) who's husband Mason Mitchell (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) is a crucial Army intelligence officer tasked with finding the incriminating diary and who persuades his wife to report on progress with Underwood's investigation in exchange for turning a blind eye to the affair. In steps MI5 (Britain's Security Service), who, in cahoots with Soviet agents, track and find Michael thanks to a tip off from Jeanette. A Soviet agent offers Michael a happy life back in Russia with his farm and family restored to him if he but signs a declaration attesting to the lie (that the Nazis did it), he refuses and is killed. MI5 heavy Underwood's boss and he is fired, they transfer Stephen's brother and he is followed when he is able to see the secret files at the National Archives (organized by an army colleague of his brother) and they break in and steal off him the diary which is burnt by Mitchell. Underwood is finally shot by an agent to keep the truth from coming out. Jeanette however has the handwritten translation and she manages to get an American newspaper to publish it and so the story does come out although it takes many decades (until after the collapse of communism) before the Russians finally admit to their role in the atrocity but nothing was ever done about the sinister British cover up.
It is a ponderous task to re-enact this awful and shabby part of British post war history so the movie moves meticulously and carefully. Such a dour and lonely quest undertaken by Underwood, who is an impoverished disheveled man who drinks heavily, makes for the opposite of the type of breezy, handsome and sociable characters that Alex Pettyfer habitually played through his teens and early adulthood so this was a gritty and workmanlike performance. Thorp was excellent as the Polish colonel at the heart of this, walking a delicate diplomatic line and Wieckiewicz was intense and believable as the tragic figure of Michael Loboda.
This movie is not an easy one to watch because of the subject matter but it is an important film in that it meticulously honors the 22,000 Poles who were the victims of this horrible chapter of the war.
The movie tracks the efforts of small town journalist Stephen Underwood (Alex Pettyfer) to unearth the truth of what really happened at Katyn. He lived near a camp of Polish soldiers of the Free Polish Army that had fled Poland and by 1947, no longer enjoyed the support of the British government due to the harsh realities of Cold War diplomacy. Underwood's key contact is Colonel Janusz Pietrowski (Will Thorp) who knows the truth but can do nothing with it. Underwood wants to unearth the proof and publish it but is discouraged at every turn, by his editor Frank Hamilton (Michael Gambon), by local Army Intelligence and even by his own Army officer brother but who eventually ends up providing crucial help.
A major breakthrough occurs when it becomes apparent that a Russian peasant called Michael Loboda (Robert Wieckiewicz) living in Eastern Poland, was a witness to the original atrocity and, when helping the Germans uncover some of the graves, finds the journal of a young Polish soldier and takes and hides it. It chronicles this boy's time and treatment in Soviet captivity as he'd managed to keep it hidden. Loboda miraculously escapes to England before the Russians invade again. Underwood tries to persuade Michael to give up the dairy but he refuses fearing for his life so Underwood sneaks into the camp and steals it from Michael whilst sleeping drunk. Underwood gets his typist's Polish father to translate the diary and then he knows that with the diary and Michael's eye witness testimony, he holds the irrefutable proof of what really happened. Col. Pietrowski persuades Michael to give his account to Stephen and it is recorded with a primitive record disc recorder.
The story takes the ultimate sinister turn. Stephen has been having an affair with Jeanette Mitchell (Tulalah Riley) who's husband Mason Mitchell (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) is a crucial Army intelligence officer tasked with finding the incriminating diary and who persuades his wife to report on progress with Underwood's investigation in exchange for turning a blind eye to the affair. In steps MI5 (Britain's Security Service), who, in cahoots with Soviet agents, track and find Michael thanks to a tip off from Jeanette. A Soviet agent offers Michael a happy life back in Russia with his farm and family restored to him if he but signs a declaration attesting to the lie (that the Nazis did it), he refuses and is killed. MI5 heavy Underwood's boss and he is fired, they transfer Stephen's brother and he is followed when he is able to see the secret files at the National Archives (organized by an army colleague of his brother) and they break in and steal off him the diary which is burnt by Mitchell. Underwood is finally shot by an agent to keep the truth from coming out. Jeanette however has the handwritten translation and she manages to get an American newspaper to publish it and so the story does come out although it takes many decades (until after the collapse of communism) before the Russians finally admit to their role in the atrocity but nothing was ever done about the sinister British cover up.
It is a ponderous task to re-enact this awful and shabby part of British post war history so the movie moves meticulously and carefully. Such a dour and lonely quest undertaken by Underwood, who is an impoverished disheveled man who drinks heavily, makes for the opposite of the type of breezy, handsome and sociable characters that Alex Pettyfer habitually played through his teens and early adulthood so this was a gritty and workmanlike performance. Thorp was excellent as the Polish colonel at the heart of this, walking a delicate diplomatic line and Wieckiewicz was intense and believable as the tragic figure of Michael Loboda.
This movie is not an easy one to watch because of the subject matter but it is an important film in that it meticulously honors the 22,000 Poles who were the victims of this horrible chapter of the war.