Get Out: Andrzej Wajda's Katyń @ SIFF Cinema

Andrzej Wajda's "Katyń" plays May 15-20 at SIFF Cinema.

Everyone can be forgiven for having WWII movie fatigue, but this week at SIFF there's a movie that's worth the effort: Andrzej Wajda's Katyń, nominated for best foreign feature at the 2007 Academy Awards. (301 Mercer St. May 15-20. Tix $10.)

Following the Soviet invasion of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939, and Poland's subsequent defeat, the USSR came into possession of tens of thousands of Polish POWs. In what is today widely accepted as an attempt to deprive a future Polish state of competent leaders, beginning on April 3, 1940, the USSR set about executing 25,000 prisoners, most in the Katyń forest near Russia's western border. The total killings at Katyń totaled about 15,000, 8,000 being military officers and the rest a variety of police, NCOs, and other members of the intelligentsia. Among them was the Jakub Wajda, the future film director's father.

From the beginning of his career, Wajda has tackled the big themes of Polish history, beginning with his trilogy about the war: A Generation (1954), Kanal (1956), and Ashes and Diamonds (1958). But Katyń stands out as one of the most personal. By looking at the impact of the mass executions on the rest of Polish society more than the crimes themselves, Wajda has created a powerful, moving film that speaks to the long-term impacts of war. It's a master of world cinema at his best.