Katyn

"The untold story of the crime Stalin could not hide"

2007 2h 2m PL

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 291

DramaHistoryWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

On September 1st, 1939, Nazi Germany invades Poland, unleashing World War II. On September 17th, the Soviet Red Army crosses the border. The Polish army, unable to fight on two fronts, is defeated. Thousands of Polish men, both military and government officials, are captured by the invaders. Their fate will only be known several years later.

“The untold story of the crime Stalin could not hide”

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Cast

Andrzej Chyra
Jerzy
Maja Ostaszewska
Anna
Artur Żmijewski
Andrzej
Danuta Stenka
General's Wife
Jan Englert
General
Magdalena Cielecka
Agnieszka
Agnieszka Glińska
School Director
Paweł Małaszyński
Pilot Lieutenant

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Andrzej Wajda
Writers: Władysław Pasikowski, Przemysław Nowakowski, Andrzej Wajda
Languages: Ukrainian, German, Polish, Russian
Countries: Poland

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 19 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Ukrainian, German, Polish, Russian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Andrzej Wajda, shot by Paweł Edelman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Krzysztof Penderecki. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Milenia Fiedler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Andrzej Chyra and Maja Ostaszewska and Artur Żmijewski carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The untold story of the crime Stalin could not hide".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0879843 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Andrzej Wajda directs. Paweł Edelman behind the camera. Krzysztof Penderecki scores. Milenia Fiedler cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Poland. Dialogue in Ukrainian, German, Polish, Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 19 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Ukrainian, German, Polish, Russian.
3Directed by Andrzej Wajda, shot by Paweł Edelman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Krzysztof Penderecki. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Milenia Fiedler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Andrzej Chyra and Maja Ostaszewska and Artur Żmijewski carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The untold story of the crime Stalin could not hide".
8IMDB entry: tt0879843 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 13 themes, including "based on novel or book", "world war ii", "kraków, poland", "based on true story".

The technical file

Cinematography: Paweł Edelman
Original score: Krzysztof Penderecki
Editing: Milenia Fiedler
Production design: Magdalena Dipont
Makeup / hair: Waldemar Pokromski
VFX supervisor: Jarosław Sawko
Stunt coordinator: Ryszard Janikowski
Runtime: 122 min · 2h 2m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $5,600,000
Box office: $14,768,451
Return: 264% of budget
Original language: PL
IMDB: Katyn (2007)

Awards

European Film Academy Prix d'Excellence

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Andrzej Wajda

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-05-17
★ 7/10
I'm not sure I've ever seen a war film wherein the Nazis and the Soviets actually tried to hold the other accountable for some of the atrocities in Poland, so this film serves as quite an eye-opener. It's September 1939 and the ordinary Polish citizenry didn't know where to turn. Their cities are being bombed to smithereens and what's left of their armed forces is being easily overwhelmed by their invaders. Initially, it is only the officers who are being detained, with the private soldiers and the families being left largely to their own devices. Gradually, though, it becomes clear that this is but an holding operation whilst the prison trains were readied to convey these men to prison camps in the East. "Anna" (Maja Ostaszewska) finds herself in such a predicament when she, and their daughter "Nika", become separated from her husband "Capt. Andrzej" (Artur Zmijewski). At this stage in the conflict, it might have been possible for her to move to the zone occupied by the German military where he parents lived in Krakow, but after being refused a licence three times she becomes more acutely aware of the dangers as she has to rely on a kindly Russian officer to make it to what she hopes will be somewhere marginally safer. In 1943, with the Nazis now dominant in this theatre of the war, they discover mass graves at Katyn which they blame of the now withdrawn Russian forces. Exhuming what is left of the bodies, they carry out "thorough" autopsies and identify many of the murdered men via loudspeakers to their loved ones living in dread that their husbands, fathers and sons would be named. By 1945, the battle had swung the other way and it'd become the task of the Soviet forces to reveal the true extent of the extermination of some 22,000 Polish officers, but with each side having consistently accused the other for the killings, it proves nigh on impossible to know just who was behind these crimes. What are the chances that this family will ever meet again? This is very clearly a topic close to the heart of Andrzej Wajda and by interweaving a poignant familial story with some truly ghastly archive footage of some of the real discoveries at Katyn, it begins to quite scientifically establish just which of these militaristic regimes was behind not only these executions but of just what happened to anyone on their own side who protested or attempted to disobey. It also illustrates something of the psychological trauma faced by both those imprisoned and those awaiting news; the senses of fear and dejection - and all amidst a convincingly presented production that captures the imagery of war and it's concomitant poverty and horror potently. It's a grim watch, made more so by a total absence of hope throughout and it is quite a compelling critique of mankind's ability to be cruel, truly cruel.

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