Lotna

Lotna
Directed by	Andrzej Wajda
Written by	Andrzej Wajda and Wojciech Żukrowski
Starring	Jerzy Pichelski Adam Pawlikowski Jerzy Moes Mieczysław Loza Bożena Kurowska Bronisław Dardziński
Production company	Zespół Filmowy KADR
Distributed by	Film Polski
Release date	1959
Running time	90 min
Country	Poland
Language	Polish

Lotna is a Polish war film released in 1959 and directed by Andrzej Wajda.

Overview

This highly symbolic movie is both the director's tribute to the long and glorious history of the Polish cavalry, as well as a more ambiguous portrait of the passing of an era. Wajda was the son of a Polish Cavalry officer who was murdered by the Soviets during the Katyn massacre.

The horse Lotna represents the entire Romantic tradition in culture, a tradition that had a huge influence in the course of Polish history and the formation of Polish literature. Lotna is Wajda's meditation on the historical breaking point that was 1939, as well as a reflection on the ending of an entire era for literature and culture in Poland and in Europe as a whole. Writing of the film, Wajda states that it "held great hopes for him, perhaps more than any other." Sadly, Wajda came to think of Lotna "a failure as a film."

The film remains highly controversial, as Wajda includes a mythical scene in which Polish horsemen suicidally charge a unit of German tanks, an event that never actually happened.

Synopsis

Poland has been invaded by Nazi Germany. Lotna, a beautiful mare that belonged to a wealthy nobleman, is given to Captain Chodakiewicz (Jerzy Pichelski), the commander of a Polish Cavalry squadron, and immediately becomes a bone of contention for everyone in the unit.

Lieutenant Wodnicki (Adam Pawlikowski), Cadet Grabowski (Jerzy Moes) and Sergeant Major Laton (Mieczysław Loza) jealously scheme among themselves to get their hands on the horse. However, the war takes the lives of Captain Chodakiewicz and Cadet Grabowski, and Lotna falls is passed to Wodnicki. Laton feels he should get the animal and so he steals Lotna and flees amidst the abandoned supply wagons and equipment of the retreating Polish Army.

Cast

• Jerzy Pichelski as Captain Chodakiewicz
• Adam Pawlikowski as Lieutenant Wodnicki
• Jerzy Moes as Cadet Grabowski
• Mieczysław Loza as Sergeant Major Laton
• Bożena Kurowska as Ewa
• Bronisław Dardziński as nobleman

See also

• Cinema of Poland
• List of Polish language films
• Karol Rómmel

External links

• Lotna at IMDb
• Essay on Lotna by Peter Gessner