Katyn
Poland, 2007 | 118 min. | Dir. Andrzej Wajda
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Hundreds of Polish soldiers were slain by the Soviet army at Katyn in 1940. The Communist government rewrote history, blaming the Nazis for the slaughter. This historical drama, one of the unusually obscure contenders for 2008's foreign film Oscar, is about the attempts of Polish citizens to uncover the truth. It’s bleak—the short war scenes are about as nasty and graphic and relentless as something out of Hostel—but elements of the cinematography, especially a scene with captive soldiers on Christmas Eve, are gorgeous.