Bitter Harvest
Directed by:
George MendelukCinematography:
Douglas MilsomeComposer:
Benjamin WallfischCast:
Samantha Barks, Barry Pepper, Max Irons, Aneurin Barnard, Terence Stamp, Tom Austen, Tamer Hassan, Richard Brake, Nicholas Aaron, Lucy Brown, William Beck (more)Plots(1)
Based on one of the most overlooked tragedies of the 20th Century, Bitter Harvest is a powerful story of love, honour, rebellion and survival as seen through the eyes of two young lovers caught in the ravages of Joseph Stalin’s genocidal policies against Ukraine in the 1930s. As Stalin advances the ambitions of the burgeoning Soviet Union, a young artist named Yuri (Max Irons) battles to survive famine, imprisonment and torture to save his childhood sweetheart Natalka (Samantha Barks) from the “Holodomor,” (the death-by-starvation program which ultimately killed millions of Ukrainians). Against this tragic backdrop, Yuri escapes from a Soviet prison and joins the anti-Bolshevik resistance movement as he battles to reunite with Natalka and continue the fight for a free Ukraine.
This epic love story brings to light one of the most devastating chapters of modern Europe.
(Becker Film Group)
Reviews (2)
Are they fucking kidding me? The Canadians shoot a period war movie about the Ukrainians plus they make it a merry party for the living contemporaries in the style of a brass band’s last concert at a party at the world’s end. Horrible.
()
How to make a film about Ukrainian history, turn it into a pseudo-Hollywood spectacle, aim to create something grandiosely sensationalized, and yet forget that it's a film set in Ukraine, not America. It didn't sit well with me at all; the young actors are trying, but they don't quite pull it off, while the older stalwarts have no room to shine. No, this attempt at a big historical movie didn't work.
()