Sixty five days on set, seventy six actors in the cast and over 10,000 extras in the battle scenes – this is, in a nutshell, is the balance sheet of the first stage of the production of The Battle of Warsaw 1920, a feature film about the Polish-Soviet War and the victorious battle, known as ‘the miracle on the Vistula’. 

Director Jerzy Hoffman and his team are now to start post-production, with the film’s premiere scheduled for September 2011.

The Battle of Warsaw 1920 is the first Polish film, and one of the few in Europe, made in the 3D technology. Photography is in the hands of Sławomir Idziak, nominated for an Oscar for Ridley Scott’s  Black Hawk Down in 2002.

According to Jerzy Hoffman,  the defeat of the Bolsheviks in 1920 was the first genuine Polish victory since the middle of the 17th century.

Historians agree that it had its far reaching consequences for the future of Europe, as it prevented the Bolshevik revolution from spreading westwards. The Battle of Warsaw was described by Edgar V. d’Abernon, as ‘the eighteenth decisive battle in the history of the world.’ (mk)