Povodyr

This film's background is the Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s. It is a story of a 10 year old boy who is separated from his American father after the father is assassinated by Soviet NKVD agents for possessing documentation that reveal the atrocities that were being committed by the ruling communist party in Russia/Soviet Union. Millions of people were perishing from the forced famine that the Soviet government enforced to collectivize the farming community. The plot revolves around the boy's attempt to survive in Ukraine and get back to his home in the United States. He is aided by a blind minstrel (Kobzar). The story is a heart wrenching view of life under the Russian/Soviet communist dictatorship. The scenery is beautiful, the plot is mesmerizing and the acting is superb. I give it 10 stars.

ZJ Kossak

When I heard about this movie in the first time, sincerely, I was intrigued. Ukrainian film production is surviving sphere, but indeed it can produce GOOD movies, with unexpected, not trivial plot, strong and mysterious characters, dramatic end.

This film has it's soul too. Minstrel's songs, chaotic escaping and changing of epochs in totalitarian empire via pure eyes of ten-year boy...

This film deserves to be watched. Definitely.

P.S. Maybe You don't know, but in real life NKVD chief's surname is Kobzar (minstrel). And. I await the next generation of Ukrainian films: about Kyiv Rus, Zaporozhian Host, epic and big-budget. Soon.

The director is tremendously talented. The style is reminiscent of Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker. Despite the sadness of some of the events, you are immersed in a world of supernatural beauty. The journeys through nature have a ethereal transcendent quality to them. The blindness of a leading character adds to this. The death toll of Stalin's famine was estimated at 7-10 million. This was one of the worst cases of genocide in human history. In this movie your soul feels the weight of this tragedy, but the movie does not dwell on this. It is setting, not the main narrative thrust. Hope and tender moments of compassion fill the screen. When this movie shows tragedy it is ultimately contrasted with a resistance of a human spirit that refuses to die. This movie is also a powerful reminder. The false promises of communism, which merely pretends to be a collectivist philosophy while actually operating more like a mafia, are juxtaposed with the real promises of compassion and love for ones neighbor. We are also shown communist propaganda tactics that mask true intentions and create confusion. Similar spin tactics accompany the war today. This is the film that Ukraine needed to make in response to what is happening to it right now. But it is so much more than that.

This movie is one of the few that impartially present the difficult times Ukraine found itself in during the 1930's. The times of massive repressions and executions of the civilian population, murder by forced starvation, and persecution of anyone who disagreed with the Soviet government in Moscow.

Basic knowledge of Eastern European history of the early 20th century would greatly help to see what links certain events together.

I suggest you read the synopsis before watching the movie to have a better understanding of the events that take place. Their true historical weight is what really gives them a deeper meaning.

This is one of the must-see films for those who wants to meet struggling Ukrainian history and to know the true face of the Soviet reign.