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the audience applauded

Expected more

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

a delicate subject. and an impeccable translation on the screen. in few words, one of the films who looking for reconquest the lines, emotions and tragedies of the recent history. and this did it not exactly a lesson of history but a kind of exorcism. because it is a courageous exercise to say the truth behind the political interests or the ideological colors. a story about people and decisions and a war like a drop of amber. it is not easy to say why but, certainly, it is a film who must see. not as translation of a bitter moment in images. maybe, not for the artistic virtues. but for the the simple motif to discover the truth who remains foundation of the present reality.

To some this may be a war movie. To others it may be an expose of the malign caprices of brutal authoritarian regimes. To many of us, I suspect, it is the above and much, much more.Some people seem to have found this film to be slow or even boring. Perhaps, they expected battle scenes and non-stop violence. I myself love to watch a good, gung-ho war movie, but I also enjoy a film which can portray the real impact of war on ordinary people as well as those who actually go into combat.This work shows the very real emotional and physical trauma experienced by those caught up in such a horrific situation. The stress of not knowing what has happened to a loved one. The bitter release of learning of their death. And the heartless manoeuvres of Nazis and Stalinists cynically plotting to gain advantage for their regimes no matter the cost in hypocrisy to their own warped ideology, never mind the sheer sociopathic insanity of their actions. The mechanical nature of the murders themselves is wonderfully and horribly portrayed, and is set into stark relief by juxtaposition with the real humanity displayed by the victims and their relatives elsewhere in the piece.

OK, I may have a spoiler so beware!!! Anyway, if you're a history buff, especially of WWII, you probably already know the story behind the Katyn forest. Nevertheless, it occurred to me while watching this film that the Polish army was made up of about 8-10% Jews, which was roughly the equivalent percentage of the population. And if you've read first-hand accounts about German-held POWs at the very beginning of the war (for example, the Shoah project), then you realize that Polish soldiers underhandedly betrayed their Jewish (and Polish) brethren soldiers to the Germans in exchange for extra food, blankets, shoes, or what have you. Not all but enough did. There is no mention of this in the film. However, the film makes a point that the Polish POWs held by both the Germans and Soviets were Gentiles, probably Catholic. And while I'm not belittling what happened to pro-Western Polish partisans during both the German and the Soviet occupation of Poland, it seemed a little strange those that had influence in the film ignored that nearly every Jew in Poland was either murdered or, had they survived the war, emigrated to Israel after-wards. Therefore, one's neighbors' apartments were looted and taken over had they been owned by Jews of Poland. And while the plight of the families of those murdered by the Soviets at Katyn is no small tragedy, it really pales in comparison to that of Polish Jews. I understand that this is a story about Katyn. But the irony of course is that while some in Poland were no doubt happy about the Jews being deported and gassed, their Christian brothers, who happened to be their neighbors in Germany, occupied a predominantly Christian country (Poland) and brutally murdered very many Gentile Polish civilians as well. That is the irony that no one talks about. Just food for thought.

It seems almost sacrilegious to be critical of a film that is based on genocide, but just because a film portrays an appalling historical episode does not mean it should automatically be lauded or acclaimed as this film appears to have been from it's cover notes. The film loosely follows several Polish officers caught up in the events, sometimes from their perspective and sometimes from the perspective of their families. Initially, the coverage of the genocide itself is from the perspective of relatives and thus arrives second or even third hand. The problem I felt was that the storyline flits between to many characters. We see some important episodes in their lives but very few of them are given any real depth. Two scenes involving the soldiers also jarred. An enormous prison barrack has bunk beds about ten berths high and is packed with thousands of soldiers and the temperature is well-below freezing. A visually iconic image. However it's also emotionless, the actors may as well be at a football match or just about to leave work. The second scene later showed the officers on a train. The narrative described them as twelve people crammed into spaces big enough for seven. Well to me they looked as though they were far more comfortable than if they had been travelling on the London underground at rush hour. It's a difficult subject and Wajda (whose own father was killed in the events) should have been the perfect director, but the massacre of 22,000 people deserves a more remarkable film depiction than is managed here.