Letter from Poland.

 

Katyn misses out

27.02.2008

Andrzej Wajda's Oscar-nominated movie about the 1940 Katyn massacre failed to win at this year's Academy Awards.
But that doesn’t matter, says Anna Piwowarska.

When asked by Polish journalists whether he was disappointed not to have been awarded the 2008 Oscar for best foreign language film, Andrzej Wajda seemed surprised. “This is my fourth time at the Oscars. Why should I be disappointed?” he said matter-of-factly. And of course, he’s right. Why should a man who’s been Oscar nominated for four of his films and received an Oscar for lifetime achievement be anything but satisfied with himself. Particularly as making Katyn was about letting the world know the truth about what occurred there rather than winning any award.
I remember the first time that I heard about the massacre. I couldn’t believe that 15,000 of the most highly educated men in Poland had been mass murdered by the Soviets. How did the perpetrators get away with it without ever getting punished? Of course, when you think about the sequence of events, everything begins to fall into place. Why the Warsaw Rising failed (all the people that would have been able to lead it properly had been killed in Katyń four years earlier). Why Communism was imposed (again, all those whom would have fought against it had been killed in Katyń). The fate of post-war Poland was intrinsically linked to the fact that Poland’s best men were murdered in that forest in 1940.
My horror of the Katyń massacre grew as I began to find out more about it. The men didn’t suspect that they were going to be killed, that’s why they didn’t rebel. They trusted the Soviets – believing that their allies would protect them. Even as they were loaded into the train carriages, some believed they may be transported home. The most shocking facts are to do with the way in which the genocide was executed. Forty men were shot every hour, until 15,000 were massacred within just a few months. The Soviets used the typical Nazi style of execution – a bullet to the back of the head shot from German guns - to make it look like Hitler’s army was responsible. The Soviets imprisoned or killed any Pole who suggested that they had committed the mass murder. The circle of lies did not cease until Communism ended.
Whenever I look at the noble, intelligent faces of the Katyń officers in old photos I get a lump in my throat. How would have Poland’s fate turned out if these men had lived? What great things would these writers, scientists, professors have achieved if they had been alive after the war? How would they have brought up the generation of Poles after them if they had been allowed to be fathers? These questions go around the heads of most Poles when they think of Katyń.
I was lucky enough to be able to be on the set of this historic film for a few days. What struck me initially was the great amount of research done before filming began. Practically all the things within the screenplay are taken from real events. The case of mistaken identity in the film is based on a true story of a blanket that was given by one officer to another who was ill. The horrifying and traumatic final sequence of the executions, where the bodies are shot and thrown out of a window, then the blood mopped off the floor is an exact reconstruction of what occurred. There had been so many lies about Katyń that Wajda obviously wanted to finally tell the whole brutal truth. Seeing as his father was one of the victims of this massacre, I can’t imagine how harrowing the filming of such scenes must have been for him.
Another thing that struck me on set was Wajda himself. He is extremely energetic and youthful, walking with a spring in his step that few eighty-year-olds are lucky to still have. Also, he is a very hands-on type of person. When he saw that a door needed to be painted, the artist inside him couldn’t help but grab the pot of paint from the set designer and do the touch up himself. Surprisingly, he also has a very good sense of humour. When someone took a picture of him with the little ten-year-old girl who acted in the film, he looked at the photo and said, “I look great but she looks a little paltry”. Wajda loves animals, especially dogs and would always light up if one wandered up during filming. It was nice to get a glimpse of the real man behind the legend.
Wajda’s film crew was also a joy to watch. Young and bursting with energy, the men and women that worked on this film were raring to go from five in the morning until late at night. Everyone seemed to be aware that this was the first film about this very important subject matter and this excited them very much. It was great to see Wajda working with the next generation of young filmmakers, them learning from him and him listening to their suggestions. It looked and felt like a film set should.
Even the actors seemed to feel like they were a part of something very special. Paweł Małaszyński, a handsome heartthrob of Polish television dramas and commercial films, played the role of a young pilot who is murdered in Katyń. Although, Małaszyński is the star of the Polish celebrity circuit he was apparently no prima donna on set. When in the closing moments of the film, the bodies were covered with earth he refused to use a stunt man. He lay there with his eyes open, his whole head and face being covered with heavy soil. When Wajda shouted “cut” a number of people had to jump into the ‘grave’ and unbury him before he suffocated.
I finally saw the finished film at the crew premiere last year. When the credits ran no one clapped (as is usual on such occasions), spoke or even moved for about ten minutes. The end sequence was so powerful that it took a while for many people to regain their composure. For me, the most powerful moment in the film is when the General (played by the great Jan Englert) is led into the execution room. The flicker of recognition as to his fate in his pale blue eyes, as well as the shuffle of his feet as he tries to retreat, are gestures that say more than a thousand words. Although, some of the film has a slightly old-fashioned and theatrical quality about it, this scene is filmed in a very modern, realistic way which effectively underlines the barbaric quality of the executions.
Katyń may not have received an Oscar but I am sure that this scene will move people, not only of Polish origin, and bring the world’s attention to the atrocity committed in the Katyń forest. And I believe that for Wajda, that is probably much more important than receiving another Academy Award.