Andrzej Wajda’s feature film Katyń about the 1940 massacre of Polish officers in Soviet Russia has been shown in Moscow.
Michal Kubicki takes a look at the reactions to the film.
Wajda’s film takes its title from the forest in Russia, which was the scene of the mass killing by the Soviet NKVD police of over 20 thousand Polish officers in 1940. This week – six months after it went on general release in Poland – the film had two screenings in Moscow, in the Cinema House for VIPs and the artistic world and in the House of Literature for members and sympathizers of the Memorial Association, a non-governmental organisation documenting communist crimes. On both occasions Katyn made an enormous impression.
Eighty-one-year-old Andrzej Wajda, whose father was a victim of the Katyn massacre, was greatly moved to have been able to show the film in Moscow. He said he couldn’t believe he’d live long enough to experience such a moment.
‘I am leaving Moscow hoping that Katyn will be shown in the cinemas all over Russia. My impression is that it has won many allies here…’
Among those who attended the screenings of the film was President Putin’s advisor for the development of contacts with the EU, Sergey Jastrzembsky. He told Polish Radio it’s a film which makes everyone reflect on the contemporary world.
‘I am happy to be able to live in a new Russia, with a new Europe around and a free Poland in the map of that new Europe. Wajda gave more proof of his skills of a great filmmaker. He is a director who knows how to tackle the most difficult problems in a delicate way.’
Ludmila Alekseyeva, chairwoman of the Helsinki Group in Moscow, was moved to tears after the show.
‘For us, watching Katyn is a more difficult experience than for Poles. The Polish people know about the cruelty of what happened. What we feel is also shame. A great shame.’
For many Russians Wajda’s film is an eye-opener. Michail Pogrebiensky is an old-age pensioner.
‘Even though I’m sixty-seven, it in only now, having seen Katyn, that I learnt about what is shown in the film. I just can’t believe it but the film presents the truth. Unfortunately it’s all new to me.’
Wajda stressed time and again that his film is not directed against the Russian people but against a criminal system, whose victims included not only Poles but also the citizens of the former Soviet Union. According to many observers in Russia, it may be extremely difficult for Wajda's feature to go on general release in that country. Talks are under way with three film distribution companies.
Katyn had its European premiere at the International Film Festival in Berlin last month. It was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category.