Blizzard of Souls

This Latvian film depicts hell on the battlegrounds through the eyes of a sixteen-year-old boy named Arturs during World War l. In this period of time, I learned that the Latvians had been infringed and butchered by neighboring countries such as Germany and Russia. To gain freedom, even children had to fight with rifles in their hands and their innocent blood was spilt. Although the overall style of this film is rather subdued, it conveys the pain and the horror the boy experiences very intensely. Even the battle scenes aren't overly dramatic which makes the film more realistic. Very sad yet a powerful story to watch.

Considering the budget cast is working with.. its very well made. Acting on other hand.. Could have been better but in general enjoyable movie to watch.

The movie was realy good, it is definetly the best latvian war movie, and prehaps the best ww1 movie out of all of them. The only problem i can pinpoint is the acting and sometimes the diolouge, wich was decent for most of the characters but sometimes the main characters voice acting was just terible in my opinion. I wouldnt say that the acting ruined the movie tough. Most of it was realy servicable, and i quite like that they didnt take all the overused latvian actors wich were realy tireing. Overall, the movie was fantastic, telling a almost completely unexplored ww1 front, especialy when it comes to wich part of the front. Definetly would recomend to anyone even remotely interested in ww1.

"Blizzard of Souls" tells the story of a young man, Arturs Vanag (Oto Brantevics). This is story like so many other war stories hitting the theatres lately. The difference lies in the details. Once the movie starts, you get sucked into the story, knowing what will happen. After German soldiers kill his mother and the family dog, he signs on with the Latvian battalion of the Imperial Russian Army, along with his father and brother. Then more tragedy strikes. I was really impressed by how the movie was filmed and the awesome acting of Oto Brantevics (first movie role and casted out of 1300 candidates). The last part of the movie is slower paced and makes you think about Artur. All the choices he made seemed the wrong ones. But are there good ones in a war like this. The storytelling tackles two wars and the absurdity of the war. Again, if you like war movies, this one you have to see. There are really awesome scenes you will not forget.

Latvia, the playground of other nations. A small country suffering from the war. You don't often get to see something cinematic from Latvia. And this film in particular can compete with greats in the world. Even if the budget has certainly lost some of its visual power, it is intense and always believable.

Due to the low budget, the film is full of ingenuity. Especially seeing the fight scenes without pompous music is just very stressful and looks very real.

Unfortunately from the second third the film loses its speed and its emotional connection to the viewer. It becomes banal and harmless. In addition, the actors are sometimes not very convincing. Still absolutely worth seeing.