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Katyn Movie Review

Katyn is a 2007 Polish historical drama film directed by Andrzej Wajda. It’s a messy movie that is more important than really great.

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A young Polish soldier refuses to escape the country when he has the chance and later gets caught, spending his last few days unaware that he is going to be a part of a big massacre. This movie is about the titular massacre that the Soviets carried during early 1940. Over twenty thousand Polish citizens were executed and all of them came from the elite. This is a rarely talked about WWII event, which makes this movie highly important and eye-opening.

The film thankfully isn’t anti-Russian. Yes, focusing on one Soviet massacre over the numerous Nazi atrocities done on a much larger scale is problematic to say the least, but this still happened and it was a very personal tale for the director whose father was one of the people killed there. You can see that it’s personal due to the movie’s evident conviction and raw emotional power.

Katyn is filled with moments of potent power. The final sequence depicting the massacre was quite devastating. It closed the movie on a brutally chilling note. The romantic and family moments also worked and the film throughout is emotionally engaging.

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But my main issue lies in its lack of character development. Many of these characters just blend in with one another. They obviously employed great Polish actors, so it’s not their fault. It’s more the fault of the weak script that was too unfocused, and thus nobody could get proper care.

You do not get to meet any of these people, which is the film’s ultimate undoing. The messy structure, pacing and editing were also fatal in undermining the powerful core story. It’s well shot and scored, but it really needed better pacing and script.