Katyn (film)
Encyclopedia
Katyń (ˈkatɨɲ) is a 2007
Polish film
about the 1940 Katyn massacre
, directed by Academy Honorary Award
winner Andrzej Wajda
. It is based on the book Post Mortem: The Story of Katyn by Andrzej Mularczyk
. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
for the 80th Academy Awards
.
, also known as the zbrodnia katyńska ('Katyń crime'), was a mass execution of Polish POW
officers and citizens ordered by the Soviet authorities in 1940. The most widely accepted estimate of the number of dead is about 22,000. The victims were murdered in the Katyn forest, Kalinin
(Tver) and Kharkiv
prisons, and elsewhere. About 8,000 were officers taken prisoner
during the Soviet 1939 invasion of Poland, the rest being Poles arrested for allegedly being "intelligence agents, gendarmes, spies, saboteurs, landowners, factory owners, lawyers, priests, and officials."
During the German occupation of Poland, the Germans used the massacre for propaganda purposes against the Soviets. However, after the war, when Poland fell under Soviet influence, the truth about the event was suppressed by the Soviet authorities, who maintained an official line throughout the Eastern Bloc
that the massacre was committed by the Germans
. With the fall of communism in Poland in 1989, the first non-communist Polish government immediately acknowledged that the crime was committed by the Soviets. In 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev
acknowledged Soviet responsibility for the Katyn massacre for the first time. In 1991, Boris Yeltsin
made public the documents which had authorised the massacre.
There are now some cemeteries of Polish officers in the vicinity of the massacres, but many facts of the event remain undisclosed to this day and many graves of the Polish POWs east of the Bug River
are either still unmarked or in a state of disrepair.
in 1940.
Andrzej (Artur Zmijewski
) is a young Polish captain in an Uhlan
(light cavalry) regiment who keeps a detailed diary. In September 1939, he is taken prisoner by the Soviet Army, which separates the officers from the enlisted men, who are allowed to return home, while the officers are held. His wife Anna (Maja Ostaszewska
) and daughter Weronika, nicknamed "Nika" (Wiktoria Gąsiewska
), find him shortly before he is deported to the USSR. Presented with an opportunity to escape, he refuses on the basis of his oath of loyalty to the Polish military.
Helped by a sympathetic Soviet officer, Anna manages to return to the family's home in Cracow with her daughter. There, the Germans
carry out Sonderaktion Krakau
, shutting down Jagiellonian University
and deporting professors to concentration camps. Andrzej's father is one of the professors deported; later, his wife gets a message that he died in a camp in 1941.
In a prisoner of war camp, Andrzej is detained for a while and continues to keep a diary. He carefully records the names of all his fellow officers who are removed from the camp, and the dates on which they are taken. During the winter, Andrzej is clearly suffering in the low temperature, and his colleague Jerzy (Andrzej Chyra
) lends him an extra sweater. As it happens, the sweater has Jerzy's name written on it. Finally, Andrzej's is taken from the camp, while Jerzy is left behind.
In 1943, the population of Cracow is informed by the occupying power about the Katyn massacre. Capitalizing on the Soviet crime, the Nazi propaganda publishes lists with the names of the victims exhumed in mass graves behind the advancing German troops. Andrzej's name is not on the list, giving his wife and daughter hope.
After the war, Jerzy, who has survived, has enlisted in the Peoples’ Army of Poland (LWP), which is under the complete control of the pro-Soviet Polish United Worker's Party. He feels personal loyalty to his friends, loves his country, and has sympathy for those who have suffered. He visits Anna and her daughter to tell them that Andrzej is dead. Apparently, when the list of the names of the victims was compiled, Andrzej was misidentified as Jerzy on the basis of the name in the sweater that Jerzy had lent to Andrzej; it was Andrzej who was killed, not Jerzy. Despondent that he is now forced to acknowledge a lie and to serve those who killed his comrades in Katyn, Jerzy commits suicide.
Evidence of Soviet responsibility for the Katyn massacre is carefully concealed by the authorities. However, a few daring people working with the effects of the victims eventually deliver Andrzej's diary to his widow Anna. The diary clearly shows the date in 1940 when he must have been killed from the absence of entries on subsequent days. The date of the massacre is crucial for assigning responsibility: if it happened in 1940, the USSR controlled the territory, while by mid-1941 the Germans took control over it.
The film ends with a re-enactment of parts of the massacre, as several of the principal characters are executed along with other soldiers.
The film includes excerpts from German newsreels presenting the Katyn massacre as a Soviet crime, and excerpts from Soviet newsreels presenting the massacre as a German crime. Some documentary footage of the scene of the massacre is shown as well.
.
, a conservative politician. There was some controversy in Poland over how the then Polish authorities tried to use the film during the election campaign.
There have been accusations that the portrayal of Soviet characters is one dimensional. However, in an attempt to create a nuanced distinction between Soviets (as a political group) and Russians (an ethnic group), the film presents one positive Soviet character, Captain Popov. All German characters are portrayed negatively.
On September 18, 2007, Rossiyskaya gazeta
, the official newspaper of the Russian government, published a short comment by Alexander Sabov claiming that the widely accepted version of the tragedy is based on a single dubious copy of a document related to the massacre, and hence the evidence for the Soviet responsibility would be unreliable. This prompted an immediate response from the Polish media. As a retort, the next day, Gazeta Wyborcza
emphasized the formal admission by the Soviet Union of NKVD responsibility and republished documents to that effect.
In April 2009, the authorities of the People's Republic of China
banned the movie from being distributed in the country due to its anti-communist ideology. However, pirate copies are widely available.
On April 2, 2010, the film was aired on the Russian television channel Russia K (Kultura). It was the film's premiere in Russia and was in conjunction with a joint commemoration of the Katyn massacre by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk
and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin
. One week later, Lech Kaczyński and numerous other Polish dignitaries died in an air plane crash
near Katyń. In response to the crash, the film was given an unscheduled airing the following evening on Russia 1 (Rossiya), one of Russia's two major television channels. The anchor of the state news program Vesti
presented the film and said that the atrocities were committed by a "totalitarian regime". In August 2010, Andrzej Wajda was honored with the Russian Order of Friendship
"for his contribution to the development of Russian-Polish relations in the field of culture". On that occasion, Russian broadcaster NTV stated that Katyń was "one of the most acclaimed premiers in Russia in 2010".
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
Polish film
Cinema of Poland
The history of cinema in Poland is almost as long as history of cinematography, and it has universal achievements, even though Polish movies tend to be less commercially available than movies from several other European nations....
about the 1940 Katyn massacre
Katyn massacre
The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
, directed by Academy Honorary Award
Academy Honorary Award
The Academy Honorary Award, instituted in 1948 for the 21st Academy Awards , is given by the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to celebrate motion picture achievements that are not covered by existing Academy Awards, although prior winners of...
winner Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda is a Polish film director. Recipient of an honorary Oscar, he is possibly the most prominent member of the unofficial "Polish Film School"...
. It is based on the book Post Mortem: The Story of Katyn by Andrzej Mularczyk
Andrzej Mularczyk
Andrzej Mularczyk , is a Polish writer, screenwriter, reporter, and author of radio dramas.He made his literary debut in 1943 in the conspiratorial publication Dźwigary, which published his work...
. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
for the 80th Academy Awards
80th Academy Awards
The 80th Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films in 2007 and was broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST, February 24, 2008 . During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24...
.
Background
The Katyn massacreKatyn massacre
The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
, also known as the zbrodnia katyńska ('Katyń crime'), was a mass execution of Polish POW
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
officers and citizens ordered by the Soviet authorities in 1940. The most widely accepted estimate of the number of dead is about 22,000. The victims were murdered in the Katyn forest, Kalinin
Kalinin
Kalinin , or Kalinina , is a Russian surname, derived from the word kalina , and may refer to:People with the surname...
(Tver) and Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
prisons, and elsewhere. About 8,000 were officers taken prisoner
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
during the Soviet 1939 invasion of Poland, the rest being Poles arrested for allegedly being "intelligence agents, gendarmes, spies, saboteurs, landowners, factory owners, lawyers, priests, and officials."
During the German occupation of Poland, the Germans used the massacre for propaganda purposes against the Soviets. However, after the war, when Poland fell under Soviet influence, the truth about the event was suppressed by the Soviet authorities, who maintained an official line throughout the Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
that the massacre was committed by the Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
. With the fall of communism in Poland in 1989, the first non-communist Polish government immediately acknowledged that the crime was committed by the Soviets. In 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
acknowledged Soviet responsibility for the Katyn massacre for the first time. In 1991, Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
made public the documents which had authorised the massacre.
There are now some cemeteries of Polish officers in the vicinity of the massacres, but many facts of the event remain undisclosed to this day and many graves of the Polish POWs east of the Bug River
Bug River
The Bug River is a left tributary of the Narew river flows from central Ukraine to the west, passing along the Ukraine-Polish and Polish-Belarusian border and into Poland, where it empties into the Narew river near Serock. The part between the lake and the Vistula River is sometimes referred to as...
are either still unmarked or in a state of disrepair.
Plot summary
The events of Katyn are related through the eyes of the women, the mothers, wives, and daughters of the victims executed on Stalin's orders by the NKVDNKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
in 1940.
Andrzej (Artur Zmijewski
Artur Zmijewski (actor)
Artur Żmijewski is a Polish movie and stage actor.-Personal life:Zmijewski and his wife Paulina have 3 children collectively: Eva , Charles ,and Victor .-Filmography:...
) is a young Polish captain in an Uhlan
Uhlan
Uhlans were Polish light cavalry armed with lances, sabres and pistols. The title was later used by lancer regiments in the Russian, Prussian, and Austrian armies....
(light cavalry) regiment who keeps a detailed diary. In September 1939, he is taken prisoner by the Soviet Army, which separates the officers from the enlisted men, who are allowed to return home, while the officers are held. His wife Anna (Maja Ostaszewska
Maja Ostaszewska
Maja Ostaszewska is a Polish actress.She was born in Kraków, the daughter of Polish musician Jacek Ostaszewski of Ostoja coat of arms. She started her acting training in her native Kraków and later graduated from PWST, in 1996...
) and daughter Weronika, nicknamed "Nika" (Wiktoria Gąsiewska
Wiktoria Gasiewska
Wiktoria Gąsiewska is a Polish child actress, who has appeared in the movie Jasminum. Currently she has been working on the Rodzina Zastępcza Plus television series.-Filmography:-External links:***...
), find him shortly before he is deported to the USSR. Presented with an opportunity to escape, he refuses on the basis of his oath of loyalty to the Polish military.
Helped by a sympathetic Soviet officer, Anna manages to return to the family's home in Cracow with her daughter. There, the Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
carry out Sonderaktion Krakau
Sonderaktion Krakau
Sonderaktion Krakau was the codename for a German operation against professors and academics from the University of Kraków and other Kraków universities at the beginning of World War II....
, shutting down Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
and deporting professors to concentration camps. Andrzej's father is one of the professors deported; later, his wife gets a message that he died in a camp in 1941.
In a prisoner of war camp, Andrzej is detained for a while and continues to keep a diary. He carefully records the names of all his fellow officers who are removed from the camp, and the dates on which they are taken. During the winter, Andrzej is clearly suffering in the low temperature, and his colleague Jerzy (Andrzej Chyra
Andrzej Chyra
Andrzej Chyra is a Polish actor.He graduated from High School and in 1987 he graduated from the Acting Theater School in Warsaw. In 1994, he majored at the same university in Directing....
) lends him an extra sweater. As it happens, the sweater has Jerzy's name written on it. Finally, Andrzej's is taken from the camp, while Jerzy is left behind.
In 1943, the population of Cracow is informed by the occupying power about the Katyn massacre. Capitalizing on the Soviet crime, the Nazi propaganda publishes lists with the names of the victims exhumed in mass graves behind the advancing German troops. Andrzej's name is not on the list, giving his wife and daughter hope.
After the war, Jerzy, who has survived, has enlisted in the Peoples’ Army of Poland (LWP), which is under the complete control of the pro-Soviet Polish United Worker's Party. He feels personal loyalty to his friends, loves his country, and has sympathy for those who have suffered. He visits Anna and her daughter to tell them that Andrzej is dead. Apparently, when the list of the names of the victims was compiled, Andrzej was misidentified as Jerzy on the basis of the name in the sweater that Jerzy had lent to Andrzej; it was Andrzej who was killed, not Jerzy. Despondent that he is now forced to acknowledge a lie and to serve those who killed his comrades in Katyn, Jerzy commits suicide.
Evidence of Soviet responsibility for the Katyn massacre is carefully concealed by the authorities. However, a few daring people working with the effects of the victims eventually deliver Andrzej's diary to his widow Anna. The diary clearly shows the date in 1940 when he must have been killed from the absence of entries on subsequent days. The date of the massacre is crucial for assigning responsibility: if it happened in 1940, the USSR controlled the territory, while by mid-1941 the Germans took control over it.
The film ends with a re-enactment of parts of the massacre, as several of the principal characters are executed along with other soldiers.
The film includes excerpts from German newsreels presenting the Katyn massacre as a Soviet crime, and excerpts from Soviet newsreels presenting the massacre as a German crime. Some documentary footage of the scene of the massacre is shown as well.
Production
Filming began on October 3, 2006, and ended on January 9, 2007. The film premiered on September 17, 2007, the anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939Soviet invasion of Poland (1939)
The 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland was a Soviet military operation that started without a formal declaration of war on 17 September 1939, during the early stages of World War II. Sixteen days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west, the Soviet Union did so from the east...
.
Cast
- Andrzej ChyraAndrzej ChyraAndrzej Chyra is a Polish actor.He graduated from High School and in 1987 he graduated from the Acting Theater School in Warsaw. In 1994, he majored at the same university in Directing....
, as Jerzy – Porucznik (1st Lieutenant) in the 8th Uhlan Regiment - Artur ŻmijewskiArtur Zmijewski (actor)Artur Żmijewski is a Polish movie and stage actor.-Personal life:Zmijewski and his wife Paulina have 3 children collectively: Eva , Charles ,and Victor .-Filmography:...
, as Andrzej – Rotmistrz (Captain) of 8th Uhlan Regiment - Maja OstaszewskaMaja OstaszewskaMaja Ostaszewska is a Polish actress.She was born in Kraków, the daughter of Polish musician Jacek Ostaszewski of Ostoja coat of arms. She started her acting training in her native Kraków and later graduated from PWST, in 1996...
, as Anna, wife of Andrzej - Wiktoria GąsiewskaWiktoria GasiewskaWiktoria Gąsiewska is a Polish child actress, who has appeared in the movie Jasminum. Currently she has been working on the Rodzina Zastępcza Plus television series.-Filmography:-External links:***...
, as Weronika ("Nika"), daughter of Andrzej and Anna - Władysław Kowalski, as father of Andrzej
- Maja KomorowskaMaja KomorowskaMaja Komorowska is a Polish film actress. She has appeared in 35 films since 1970.-Selected filmography:* Family Life * A Woman's Decision * Budapest Tales * Spiral...
, as mother of Andrzej - Jan EnglertJan EnglertJan Englert is a Polish film actor. He has appeared in over 60 films since 1957.-Selected filmography:* Liberation * Salt of the Black Earth * Pearl in the Crown * Osadeni Dushi...
, as General - Danuta StenkaDanuta StenkaDanuta Stenka is a Polish actress.-Selected filmography:-External links:...
, as Róża, wife of General - Sergei GarmashSergei GarmashSergei Leonidovich Garmash is a Soviet and Russian film and stage actor of Ukrainian origin. He is a People's Artist of Russia.-Filmography:* Stalingrad, 1989* 12, 2007* Katyń, 2007...
, as Captain Popov - a sympathetic and protective Red Army officer - Agnieszka Kawiorska, as Ewa, daughter of General and Róża
- Stanisława Celińska, as Stasia – a servant in the General's house
- Paweł Małaszyński, as Piotr – an Air Force officer
- Magdalena CieleckaMagdalena CieleckaMagdalena Cielecka is a Polish film and theatre actress. Cielecka spent her childhood in a small town Żarki-Letnisko. In 1995, she graduated from Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Teatralna in Cracow. Soon after the studies she joined the Teatr Stary Theatre Company in Cracow, where she played until 2001...
, as sister of Piotr - Agnieszka Glińska, as sister of Piotr
- Anna Radwan, as Elżbieta – a relative of Anna
- Antoni Pawlicki, as Tadeusz, son of Elżbieta
- Alicja Dąbrowska, as an actress
- Jakub Przebindowski, as priest Wikary
- Krzysztof GlobiszKrzysztof GlobiszKrzysztof Globisz is a Polish theatre and film actor. His best known role is as Piotr Balicki, the newly qualified barrister whose opinion of capital punishment undergoes a radical change in A Short Film About Killing directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski.-External links:...
, as a medical doctor
Controversy
There has been controversy over the politics surrounding the film. According to Wajda's production notes, the film was made under the honorary patronage of President Lech KaczyńskiLech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
, a conservative politician. There was some controversy in Poland over how the then Polish authorities tried to use the film during the election campaign.
There have been accusations that the portrayal of Soviet characters is one dimensional. However, in an attempt to create a nuanced distinction between Soviets (as a political group) and Russians (an ethnic group), the film presents one positive Soviet character, Captain Popov. All German characters are portrayed negatively.
On September 18, 2007, Rossiyskaya gazeta
Rossiyskaya Gazeta
Rossiyskaya Gazeta is a Russian government daily newspaper of record which publishes the official decrees, statements and documents of state bodies...
, the official newspaper of the Russian government, published a short comment by Alexander Sabov claiming that the widely accepted version of the tragedy is based on a single dubious copy of a document related to the massacre, and hence the evidence for the Soviet responsibility would be unreliable. This prompted an immediate response from the Polish media. As a retort, the next day, Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza is a leading Polish newspaper. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA...
emphasized the formal admission by the Soviet Union of NKVD responsibility and republished documents to that effect.
In April 2009, the authorities of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
banned the movie from being distributed in the country due to its anti-communist ideology. However, pirate copies are widely available.
On April 2, 2010, the film was aired on the Russian television channel Russia K (Kultura). It was the film's premiere in Russia and was in conjunction with a joint commemoration of the Katyn massacre by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk
Donald Tusk
Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....
and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
. One week later, Lech Kaczyński and numerous other Polish dignitaries died in an air plane crash
2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
The 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on 10 April 2010, when a Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board...
near Katyń. In response to the crash, the film was given an unscheduled airing the following evening on Russia 1 (Rossiya), one of Russia's two major television channels. The anchor of the state news program Vesti
Vesti
Russia 24 is a VGTRK-owned international and national Russian-language news channel from Russia. It covers major national and international events with a Russian perspective and a focus on domestic issues....
presented the film and said that the atrocities were committed by a "totalitarian regime". In August 2010, Andrzej Wajda was honored with the Russian Order of Friendship
Order of Friendship
The Order of Friendship is a state decoration of Russia established by decree # 442 of March 2, 1994 of the President of the Russian Federation....
"for his contribution to the development of Russian-Polish relations in the field of culture". On that occasion, Russian broadcaster NTV stated that Katyń was "one of the most acclaimed premiers in Russia in 2010".
See also
- Katyn MassacreKatyn massacreThe Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
- Poland–Russia relationsPoland–Russia relationsPoland–Russia relations have a long history, dating to the late Middle Ages, when the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Muscovy struggled over control of their borderlands. Over centuries, there have been several Polish-Russian wars, with Russians controlling much of Poland in the 19th century...
- World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the WestWorld War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the WestWWII Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West is a BBC / PBS documentary film on the role of Joseph Stalin during World War II. The 2008 film combines narrative-led documentary segments, interwoven by dramatic re-enactments, with actors representing main political figures of the period....