Magdalena Cielecka Movies
Celebrated Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda takes the helm for this Oscar-nominated drama detailing the harrowing events surrounding the 1940 massacre of captured Polish army officers in the Katyn Forest. A unique blend of conventional narrative and documentary-style filmmaking, Katyn opens in the spring of 1940, just as the Soviet Secret police execute a group of Polish officers. On September 1, 1939, Germen forces had descended upon Poland, paving the way for the Red Army to occupy east Poland as part of the Hitler-Stalin pact. As the Red Army assumed control of east Poland, all officers in the Polish army were placed in Soviet custody. Determined to remain loyal to the army despite the growing danger, Polish officer Andrzej refuses to flee with his wife, Anna. It isn't long before invading forces begin arresting professors in Cracow, and as the detainees languish in prison camps, their families start to fear that they'll never see their loved ones again. Flash forward to April 1943, and the Germans announce the discovery of mass graves. While Anna is relieved not to hear her husband's name on the list of bodies discovered, countless others are left to grieve their losses with no explanation or consolation. January 18, 1945: Cracow is liberated by the Red Army, and propagandist newsreels from the Soviet Union blame German forces for the massacre at Katyn. It is at that point that the fine line between collaboration and resistance within the People's Republic of Poland becomes exceptionally blurred. As the details surrounding the massacre gradually begin to emerge, Wajda reveals precisely how this horrifying massacre unfolded by flashing back to the spring of 1940 for an extended sequence in which Polish officer internees are transported by railroad to Smolensk and methodically dispatched before being casually buried in a mass grave. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Zmijewski, (more)
A cop learns more than he ever wanted to know when he looks into the death of a pal in this drama from Polish filmmaker Konrad Niewolski. Marek (Andrzej Chyra) is a police detective who is put in the difficult position of investigating the death of a close friend when a fellow cop dies after falling from a window. Marek must find evidence to determine if the cop's death was murder or suicide, and his investigation leads him into a dark and corrupt netherworld populated by any number of outlaws and desperate characters. Marek's need to uncover the truth puts him in contact with some of his friend's seedy associates, including a sleazy Peeping Tom (Arkadiusz Bazak), a blonde beauty with a dangerous past (Magdalena Cielecka), and the patients of a less-than-reputable mental hospital. Palimpsest received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrzej Chyra, Arkadiusz Bazak, (more)
A film that inevitably recalls Roman Polanski's 1962 Noz w Wodzie, Polish director Jan Hryniak's tense psychodrama The Third (Trzeci) enters the dark and claustrophobic territory of a marriage fractured and falling slowly to pieces. Jaciek Poniedzialek stars as Pawel, a Polish husband so obsessed with work-related commitments that he lets those obligations all but destroy his nuptials with wife Ewa (Magdalena Cielecka). The couple plans a romantic getaway together on a yacht, intended to bring new life and vitality to their marriage, but at the last minute, Pawel is called away from the boat on yet another work assignment, to finalize a multi-million dollar contract. Discouraged and downtrodden, the couple makes their way home, but runs into the so-called "third" of the title - an enigmatic older gentleman who vehemently insists that he has unusual "methods" for healing their relationship. Little do Ewa and Pawel realize what lies in store for them. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Magdalena Cielecka, Jacek Poniedzialek, (more)
- 1996
Set in communist Poland in 1953, this is a drama about loyalty and betrayal. Anna (Magdalena Cielecka) is a Catholic nun and schoolteacher who has made the mistake of advising her students to attend Mass rather than go to an important Communist Party rally. She is arrested and detained, but is released on the condition that she will get the dirt on a dissident priest (Oligerd Lukaszwicz). Anna is a young woman, and has had a crush on that same priest since she was a girl. As she attempts to carry out her nefarious assignment, her unresolved sexual feelings come to the fore, adding to her inner torment. When her duplicitous friendship with him results in confidences, her twin crises of conscience and faith come to their peak. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
