User reviews

I attended high school with several Lithuanian & Latvian refugees in the mid-fifties, in Canada. I found them to be quite stoic and reserved, and can now understand why they might behave in his way. Their parents were mis-treated as fascists by the Russians, simply because the Germans had smothered them for so long. This led to their deportation to Stalin's hostile, 3000 mile distant work camps and a starvation existence. A story well worth telling, in black & white film, due to its grim theme...

I agree w/some of the lower star reviews that more background history would have helped such as the tacit pact between Germany & Communist Soviet Union to not interfere in either nations expansion of their empires. Seems like Russia still has designs in that direction. Also, that the broad scope and depth of brutality would have added even more to this tale. In 1941 & 1949 the Soviets deported over 15,000 Latvians to either be shot (Malanija Vanaga's husband) or to work camps & prisons mostly in eastern Russia. Deportations & killings reaching hundreds of thousands were ongoing throughout the decades including Latvians living in Russia. I thought the black & white filming gave a period stark cold realism to these events.

You may need to stop and resume this movie a couple of times, because it is relentless in showing the misery. And yet through all of the suffering the protagonist still chooses to act selflessly.

The black and white cinematography is breath-taking at times.

The Swiss actress who plays the lead character is just amazing. With facial expressions and body movement she says more than any amount of dialogue ever could.

This was am unexpected gem.

I really loved the muted BW cinematography. Very beautiful and tragic images and tableaux in the film. It has a higher budget than some of the other Gulag camp films, but it still feels like an indie film, raw and real. It is so sad what the Soviet Union did to the Baltic nations with the deportations. We must remember these events with films like this.