La vida prometida (Este-Oeste)

Alexei, the young doctor who decides to go back to the Soviet Union after a generous invitation of Josef Satlin, should have had his head examined! After all, as a professional he seemed to have been doing well in France. With all the best intentions, he takes his wife and young son to the old country only to find himself trapped in a totalitarian system that made him and the family virtual prisoners.

"Est Ouest", directed by Regis Wargnier, shows in vivid detail what Alexei and Marie, his wife, have to endure when they are taken to Kiev, where he is assigned. Little did Alexei and Marie knew about the dismal housing problems of those years when the family is given a large room in an apartment that is being shared by five families!

The film concentrates in the eventual break down of the marriage caused by the environment. Alexei ends up having an affair with Olga, another flat mate, and Marie falls in love for the poor Sacha, a young man who is left alone in the world when his grandmother dies. Marie blames Alexei for all the misery they have to endure; she is regarded as a foreigner, but she can't even go back to her native France.

The film has an ironic end when Marie, helped by Gabrielle, a French actress, who is sympathetic to her fellow countryman. Marie realizes at the end of Alexei's tremendous sacrifice and ultimate punishment when she and her son are able to escape the communist hell that has imprisoned them.

Great acting in general by Sandrine Bonnaire, who as Marie, is totally credible. Oleg Menshikov, makes the best of Alexei, at times appearing uncaring and selfish, but who deeply cared for his wife. Sergei Bodrov Jr. is also excellent as Sacha, the young boy in love with Marie.

The film was shot in drab color, perhaps to emphasize the hard times during the Stalin regime. One gets only glimpses of some of the splendid, and opulent interiors, whenever the action takes place in one of those buildings or theaters. Unfortunately, the principals of this story never really had a chance to enjoy anything because the nightmare that became their lives under that totalitarian regime.

For a system that endured about seventy years,it is amazing how so few movies have really given us a sense of what life there was like,and this movie does it brilliantly and flawlessly. While the background is the big falsehoods of soviet Russia,like baiting émigrés to return,only to take revenge for the sin of yearning freedom,the true power of the movie is in penetrating and superb description of everyday's life,the housing with shared common facilities,total lack of minimal privacy,"shopping"Russian style,and the pervasive drinking. I had the feeling of being and living in one of those housing units as I was watching the film. The plot is superb,full of surprising twists and the acting,all the way down to the smaller roles,is perfect. The movie is a true gem.The only achievement of the late Soviet regime is its success in hiding the true nature of life behind the Iron Curtain for so many years

Shot in dark tones of the Soviet popular colors, this movie will transport you right into the heart of the Communist system during the 1950's Stalin period. Within half an hour you'll be sorry that you came, because the director will make you fear for the unlikely heroes. You'll be holding to your chair and crave for the safety of your favorite TV soap.

To call it a political thriller is not doing justice to the emotional overtone of the story of Marie and her husband Alexey. Director's rendition of the Marie's courage hidden in the simplest acts is quite dazzling. That, and good acting is the major "special effect" of this film, theme of which cannot be dismissed as a history to be forgotten. A system similar to the Soviet communism may sprout in any country, and the fate of the condemned people may depend on the valour of both insiders and the citizen of the free world.

Don't worry, the movie is not moralizing. Do yourself a favor, go to see it - if the political system of your country permits you to do so (if it does not, smuggle it in and invite all your friends).

This movie hit pretty close to home. I am a first generation American. Everyone else in my family left the USSR(Ukraine) in the 1970's.

One of the many reasons they left is because of the daily life problems that this movie depicts. People were afraid to say anything, or express their thoughts even remotely on how they felt about life in thing wrong with it. If they did so they would be either murdered thrown in jail or taken away never to be heard from again. East West is a well made and easy to understand film that can be enjoyed by a lot of mainstream audiences.

"East/West" ventures into a time (post WWII) when the Iron Curtain shrouded Stalin's Soviet Union and a curtain of suspicion and distrust shrouded every soviet life. The film follows a French family of three as the patriarch returns to his Russian homeland where he and his family are held prisoners of conscience by communism. The film focuses on the characters, their silent suffering and yearning for freedom while living in a state of constant paranoia as it tears husband from wife, mother from son, and heroism emerges from the most unlikely places. "East/West" is an entertaining watch for all and, though fictional, offers a sense of what the Cold War was about.