by Larry Richman
May 12, 2008 4:38 PM

Poland has the unique distinction of being situated between two powerful nations: Russia to the east and Germany to the west. When the Soviets and Nazis began to converge in 1939, 15,000 men in Poland's officer corps mysteriously disappeared. Who was responsible for their deaths and how this crime was allowed to take place is the mystery at the heart of Katyn. Famed Polish director Andrzej Wajda was determined to bring that story to the world, which remained a secret until the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Katyn is an emotionally moving experience which left me stunned in silent disbelief.

Told through the use of actual diaries and letters, the film focuses on four officers and their families in order to tell the larger tale. A frighteningly brilliant ensemble cast brings the story to life (and death). Individual performances are just understated enough that it is the reality of what took place which stays in the mind of the viewer long after the end credits have rolled. The settings and costumes, along with Pawel Edelman's stark cinematography, were lovingly recreated by a generation of Poles aching to let the world know about the tragedies which took place and how, and why, they were hushed up and unknown to most of the world until recently.

Movies based on actual events have been some of the most dramatic and powerful of all time. The term "truth is stranger than fiction" applies here, and nothing is quite as chilling as a horrific story that's never been told or is known to so few. Such is the case with Katyn which, like Schindler's List and Sophie's Choice before it, reveals some of the heartwrenching internal conflicts with which families wrestled when faced with the unspeakable horrors of the Second World War. The result is simply a remarkable work which is worthy of the label "important."