by Rebecca Flint Marx
synopsis
Shown as part of the Soviet Retro series at the 2000 Locarno Film Festival, Boris Barnet's 1945 film traces the fortunes of Varia (Irina Radchenko), a young girl who has lost her family to German bombs. Taking shelter with an elderly couple who are soon murdered by the Germans, she becomes a servant to the enemy, who are lead by the commander Balz (director Barnet). With three wounded airmen as her only friends, Varia struggles to survive and eventually helps the airmen to escape.
characteristics
- Life Under Occupation
- Survival
- Survivor
- War
- Barnstorming
- Aerobatics
- Barnstormer
- Russia
- School
- Shock
- Ruin
- Resistance
- Partisan
- Psychological-abuse
- Soldier
