''The Last Witness'' is a British-Polish

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by Piotr Szkopiak based on a stage play by Paul Szambowski. The film stars

Alex Pettyfer Alexander Richard Pettyfer (born 10 April 1990) is a British actor and model. He appeared in school plays and on television before being cast as Alex Rider, the main character in the 2006 film version of ''Stormbreaker''. Pettyfer was nominated ...

Robert Więckiewicz Robert Więckiewicz (born 30 June 1967) is a Polish film and television actor from Nowa Ruda, Poland. In 2013, he received Best Actor Award at the Chicago International Film Festival for his role in film ''Walesa: Man of Hope''. Selected filmogra ...

Talulah Riley Talulah Jane Riley-Milburn''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005''; Ancestry.com. Retrieved 3 November 2015. (born 26 September 1985) is an English actress and writer. She has appeared in films, including '' Pride & P ...

, Michael Gambon,

Will Thorp Will Thorp (born 21 June 1977) is an English actor. Early life Thorp attended St Augustine's Catholic College in Trowbridge. He studied at Bath College and joined Musical Youth Theatre Company. Thorp was also a member of the National Youth T ...

Henry Lloyd-Hughes Henry Lloyd-Hughes (born 11 August 1985) is an English actor. He is known for his roles in ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' (2005), '' Unrelated'' (2007), ''The Inbetweeners'' (2008–2010), '' Miliband of Brothers'' (2010), '' Weekender ...

and

Gwilym Lee Gwilym Lee (born 24 November 1983) is a Welsh actor. He is best known for his roles in '' Jamestown'', ''Midsomer Murders'', ''Top End Wedding'', ''The Great'', and for playing guitarist Brian May in the Queen biopic ''Bohemian Rhapsody''. Ear ...

. The film was released in Poland by Kino Świat on 156 screens on 11 May 2018, in the United States by

Momentum Pictures Momentum Pictures is a film distributor and a subsidiary of Entertainment One, itself part of Hasbro. Prior to 2013, it was a brand of Canadian distributor Alliance Films used for its releases in the United Kingdom, and was one of the leading in ...

on 29 May 2018 and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment beginning on 5 June 2018. It was released in the United Kingdom by Signature Entertainment on 17 August 2018. It won 44 festival awards and was screened at film festivals around the world including in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Toronto & Sydney. The film deals with the impact of the political intrigue surrounding the Katyn Massacre on Polish servicemen and women in the UK after the Second World War. While the framework put together for the purposes of the film is very largely fictional, the death of Loboda (a Russian, not Polish, peasant) outside Bristol on October 30th 1947 is a real event dismissed officially in the UK as suicide.

Plot

A young, ambitious journalist risks love, career and ultimately his life to uncover the true identity of an Eastern European refugee and his connection to the British Government's collusion in the cover-up of the

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...

, one of

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

's most notorious crimes.

Cast

as Stephen Underwood *

as Michael Loboda *

as Jeanette Mitchell * Michael Gambon as Frank Hamilton *

as Colonel Janusz Pietrowski *

as Mason Mitchell * Piotr Stramowski as Andrzej Nowak *

as John Underwood * Charles De'Ath as the Police Sergeant *

Luke de Woolfson Luke de Woolfson (born 7 March 1976) is a British film and television actor. Filmography *2000: ''Urban Gothic'' as Noddy (1 episode in TV series) *2001: ''Model, Actress, Whatever'' as Matt (TV movie) *2001: ''Late Night Shopping'' as Sean *200 ...

as Thomas Derrick * Michael Byrne as the Coroner * Anita Carey as Joan Caldercott *

Holly Aston ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

as Rose Miller * Pate Wayre as an RAF Sq. Leader & a patron in the pub

Release

''The Last Witness'' was released in Poland by Kino Świat on 11 May 2018, in the United States by

on 29 May 2018 and in the United Kingdom by Signature Entertainment on 17 August 2018.

References

External links

* * *
Pop Culturalist Chats with The Last Witness’ Piotr Szkopiak

“Create your own style.” — Meet Piotr Szkopiak, writer/director of the WWII, based on a true story thriller The Last Witness

Cinephellas ''The Last Witness'' – Interview with Piotr Szkopiak

Culture Trip ''The Last Witness'' A Brooding British Thriller Probes the Katyn Massacre Cover-Up

why so blu? Encapsulated Movie ReviewsQuiet Earth Writer/Director Piotr Szkopiak on His 15 Year-Long Quest to Make THE LAST WITNESS [Interview

Reel Talker INTERVIEW: FILMMAKER PIOTR SZKOPIAK

2018 films British thriller drama films Polish thriller drama films 2010s English-language films English-language Polish films 2010s British films {{2010s-UK-film-stub