Katyn
Short description
Katyn is a Polish historical drama set during and after the Second World War. It follows several Polish officers taken prisoner after Germany and then the Soviet Union invade Poland in September 1939, and the families left behind who refuse to accept that their husbands, fathers and brothers are gone. The film moves between the officers' captivity and the women waiting at home, tracing how the truth about the missing men is suppressed and how the question of what happened to them comes to shadow the postwar years.
Andrzej Wajda directed and co-wrote the film, working with Władysław Pasikowski and Przemysław Nowakowski on the screenplay and with producer Michał Kwieciński. It sits late in a long directing career that began with A Generation in 1955 and includes Kanal, Ashes and Diamonds, Danton, The Possessed, The Last Days and The Revenge. The large cast includes Andrzej Chyra, Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Żmijewski, Danuta Stenka, Jan Englert and Magdalena Cielecka.
Made for about 6 million USD, Katyn took roughly 15 million USD worldwide on its 2007 release. On IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from around 18,000 voters, and on TMDB 6.7 out of 10 from about 289 voters. A critics' score of 7.3 out of 10 from 68 reviews places it somewhat above the audience ratings on TMDB and close to the IMDb figure.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is dedicated to the director's parents. His father, Jakub Wajda, perished at Katyn.
- The film features music by Krzysztof Penderecki – Symphony No. 2 and “Chaconne in Memory of John Paul II” from “Polish Requiem”.
- The film premiered in Warsaw on September 17, 2007 – the day Soviet troops entered Poland in 1939. In Russia, the film had its premiere on October 27, 2007, at the cultural center of the Polish Embassy in Moscow.
- The diaries of Polish officers held in the Kozelsk camp were used in the preparation of the film, in particular, those of Major Adam Solski. The story of the sweater given to another prisoner of war is described in the diary of Wacław Kruk.
- In October 2007, at the direction of Defense Minister Aleksander Szczygło, a mandatory screening of the film was organized for members of the Polish Armed Forces.
- The literary basis for the film is Andrzej Mularczyk's story “Post Mortem – The Katyn Story” (lat. Post Mortem – after death).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
