Posted on 12/01/2006 11:41:07 AM PST by lizol
Wajda begins filming Katyn movie
01.12.2006
Krakow comes to a standstill as shooting of Oscar winning director Andrzej Wajda’s new film on the 1940 Katyn massacre begins.
Report from Krakow by Robert Kusek
The major streets and squares closed. The city veiled in mist and covered with artificial snow. Swastikas on the buildings. Men in Nazi uniforms. Krakow has once again become a location for the shooting of a new movie by Andrzej Wajda – one of the most renowned Polish filmmakers who in 2000 was presented with an honorary Oscar for his outstanding contribution to world cinema..
“Post mortem” – which can already boast the best Polish cast and an unparalleled budget – is a story about the Katyn massacre, i.e. a mass execution of Polish citizens ordered by the Soviet authorities in 1940. In 1943 the mass graves were discovered at Katyn forest by the German army but the Soviet Union continued to deny responsibility for the massacre until 1990. Only then did the Russians admit that the Soviet secret police had in fact committed the crime and killed over 22 000 Polish soldiers and intellectuals.
Andrzej Wajda has been considering making a movie about Katyn for a long time. The project is of particular significance to Wajda since it is partly autobiographical. Wajda’s father – captain Jakub Wajda – was one of the officers murdered by the Soviets in Katyn. But the movie is not going to deal directly with the crime but rather with a lie about the true perpetrators and a cover-up by the Soviet and Communist authorities. It will tell a story from the point of view of women – mothers, wives and daughters of Polish officers – who are waiting for their men to come back home.
Hence, the choice of Krakow as a major shooting location. It is not only Andrzej Wajda’s city where he and his mother waited for any news about the lost member of the family but also the place where in 1943 the Germans officially broadcast to the world the Katyn massacre and charged the Soviets with carrying out the crime.
The film will be officially released on the 17th of September 2007 – precisely on the day when the Red Army invaded Poland in 1939.
Rather his daddy.
Nice pictures. Now I don't have to go see the movie.
We are so anxious to see this. I hope they release it on DVD's that can be played on American machines!
Them and a sh*tload of Studebaker trucks, courtesy of Lend Lease [plus aircraft, tanks, boots, SPAM, etc]
The Poles were murdered by the NKVD in the Spring of 1940.
I think these guys are supposed to be NKVD troops - based on the blue hats on some, and the blue collar flashes on the rest.
Wow, uncanny resemblance.
I believe that the Poles murdered at Katyn were shot one at a time, at around 250 per night, in an NKVD dacha, and the bodies were then removed to the Hill of Goats for burial. I'm not sure, but I think the principal executioner was named Merkulov. I do remember the guy wore a full length leather apron and gauntlets for the executions.
Thanks. That makes sense. That and the Jeep in the snow couldn't have represented a 1940 time frame.
Is that the Polish eagle below the windshield before the letters and numbers?
My Aunt says that we had family killed in this massacre. What a terrible event.
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