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Katyn (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:57
Fresh:52
Rotten:5
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: Masterfully crafted by an experienced directorial hand, Katyn is a powerful, personal depiction of wartime tragedy.
Theatrical Release:Feb 18, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: Film Forum is proud to present Andrzej Wajda’s Katyn, the story he has waited a lifetime to tell: Katyn is the name of the forest where the Soviets secretly murdered 15,000 Polish officers,... [More]
Starring: Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Zmijewski, Andrzej Chyra, Danuta Stenka
Director: Andrzej Wajda
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Reviews for Katyn
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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 4/5 |
Oscar-winning Polish writer/director Andrzej Wajda is now 83 years old. But he thankfully hasn't lost his ability to outrage viewers for all the right reasons. Full Review |
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Andrjez Wajda, whose father was one of the officers killed in Katyn, uses the event to explore some of the unhealed wounds suffered by the Poles in World War II. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
[Director] Wajda has brought some small measure of rest to their names, to Poland, and to history. Full Review |
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4/4 |
Katyn is remarkably concise and (if one may say this about a cinematic commemoration of mass murder) elegant. Full Review |
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4/4 |
Wajda's intensity and passion, as well as his intelligence and craft, are unmistakable from the very first sequence. Virtually from the first shot. Full Review |
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3/5 |
This may not rank among his greatest masterpieces, but it’s exciting to see that Wajda still has a devastating, defiant work in him. Full Review |
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4/5 |
The principal success of Wajda’s stately, widescreen and exquisitely shot film lies in its sober attempt to mirror the fragmented truth of a genocide. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Delivering an emotional punch to the gut in the final reel, this engaging account of an under-reported tragedy will remind you how cinema can still rise to the occasion and go beyond the empty bangs and flashes of tent pole releases. Full Review |
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4/5 |
It is serious film-making of the most noble intent and it strenuously attacks the state ideologies that continue to legitimise war crimes. Full Review |
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4/5 |
This powerful, heartfelt and important drama from one of the great names in world cinema deserves to be seen. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Wajda has achieved something truly memorable: the film reminds you that cinema can be the preserver of the truth’s smallest details, when a run of excellent pictures can finally tell a story the world was waiting for. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Katyn is a solemn, troubling film that makes necessary demands on its audience. Full Review |
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Wajda employs a full range of sweeping shots and orchestral cues to ramp up the emotion, although he’s often guilty of sacrificing the intimacy of character for the grander narrative of history. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Mainstream attempts at melodrama, sweeping crane shots and a Charlotte Gray gloss unbalance Wajda's desired mood. Full Review |
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4/5 |
With its mournful score, muted cinematography and restrained performances, this is a work of sober commemoration, though the climactic depiction of the mass killing is justifiably harrowing. Full Review |
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3/5 |
This is an important film that packs a powerful emotional punch almost 60 years after the main events. Full Review |
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4/5 |
A touch hard to tell what's going on at times, the film comes into its own towards the end as it portrays with shocking candour the genocide that still reverberates in Eastern Europe to this day. Full Review |
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 2/5 |
Wajda tries too hard to detach himself from this personal drama and instead turns in what often feels like a piece of forensic archaeology. Full Review |
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Katyn is solidly, skilfully told. But away from these living-graveside scenes, Wajda’s own artistic bones seem too well-upholstered at 83. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Though it would be hard to call it life-affirming. It is too riven with grief and horror for that, too aware of what Poland has suffered for it to be anything but a deeply sombre memorial. Full Review |
CommentLatest News for Katyn
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