This film was touted to me as the first one set in Lapland during the often forgotten Lapland War between Finland and Nazi-Germany (1944-1945). This was false marketing for the story is mostly set in Russia and the Lapland War does not start until two-thirds into the film.
The plot aims to be a love story between lovers from opposite sides in the conflict, against all odds, but that angle is obfuscated by side plots and the paper thin story, in which everything is treated with the same greyish brush.
Furthermore, the special effects in the action scenes are mostly not believable. Bombs repeatedly explode literally two meters away from the protagonists who are standing up yet miraculously remain unharmed, while German soldiers, instead of seeking cover, fire at attack planes with pistol calibre small arms.
I assume the film makers wanted to create an artsy, dark film to gloss over the fact that they lacked the budget to depict realistic action and atrocity scenes and they failed in that attempt. There are some good scenes, but on the whole the story feels disjointed, the characters have little chemistry and their actions appear poorly motivated.
It is too bad that a story with potential did not meet with a better execution. For a better film set in the same area and during the same time period, watch Kukushka (2002).
The plot aims to be a love story between lovers from opposite sides in the conflict, against all odds, but that angle is obfuscated by side plots and the paper thin story, in which everything is treated with the same greyish brush.
Furthermore, the special effects in the action scenes are mostly not believable. Bombs repeatedly explode literally two meters away from the protagonists who are standing up yet miraculously remain unharmed, while German soldiers, instead of seeking cover, fire at attack planes with pistol calibre small arms.
I assume the film makers wanted to create an artsy, dark film to gloss over the fact that they lacked the budget to depict realistic action and atrocity scenes and they failed in that attempt. There are some good scenes, but on the whole the story feels disjointed, the characters have little chemistry and their actions appear poorly motivated.
It is too bad that a story with potential did not meet with a better execution. For a better film set in the same area and during the same time period, watch Kukushka (2002).