Katyn

Andrzej Wajda's Oscar-nominated film about the Katyn massacre of 1940, in which thousands of Polish officers (including Wajda's own father) were executed by the Russians. As political cover-ups obscure the truth, various fictional characters try to piece together what happened to their loved ones, including Anna (Maja Ostaszewska), the wife of POW Andrzej (Artur Zmijewski), who years later in post-war Poland is still unsure of her husband's fate.

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: 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. Wajda is excellent at portraying the lingering corruption of this top-down rewriting of history. On the downside, he tries to reflect so many experiences in his time-hopping story that he clouds our view at times. (Verdict: 4 stars out of 5)

A O Scott, New York Times: The film's dramatic momentum is carried by the sisters, mothers and widows of the dead, whose attempts to hold on to the truth are almost unbearably poignant. Wajda is too honest and sensitive a filmmaker to foreshadow an eventual redemptive ending. The result is a film with a stately, deliberate quality that insulates it against sentimentality and makes it all the more devastating.
Nigel Andrews, Financial Times: When a historical film finds its life and heartbeat, the effect can be magical. It doesn't happen quite enough in Katyn, but it happens whenever the horror of the massacre is allowed to burst through the fictional overlay of the story. The newsreel excerpts do it best. The film's human episodes sometimes stir our feelings. But only the inhuman ones shake them. ·