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Ashes in the Snow

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Ashes in the Snow

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Summary

In 1941, a 16-year-old aspiring artist and her family are deported to Siberia during Stalin's dismantling of the Baltic region. She risks everything to get a message to her imprisoned father and uses art to tell the story of her terror inside a Soviet labour camp. Marius A Markevicius's drama, starring Bel Powley, Sophie Cookson and Jonah Hauer-King

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Review

A star rating of 2 out of 5.

Jamie Healy

The life of a Lithuanian middle-class family is torn apart by occupying Soviet forces in this drama based on the book Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. As the Second World War rages elsewhere in Europe, teenage Bel Powley's dreams of going to art school are dashed when she, her mother (Lisa Loven Kongsli) and younger brother are taken from their home, bundled onto trains and transported to Siberia. The misery of their voyage is matched by the hopelessness of their new life working in labour camps, harvesting beets in the filthy tundra. Marius A Markevicius's film is a fittingly sombre affair, but like the harsh Arctic winter, there's very little to warm to. Powley's tentative romance with fellow prisoner Jonah Hauer-King never really comes alive, while Loven Kongsli's more complicated relationship with a part-Ukrainian soldier (Martin Wallström) isn't exploited to its full doomed potential. Without those redemptive highs or soul-destroying lows to stir the emotions, the overall effect can be a bit numbing, making this a rather forgettable tribute to the countless victims of Soviet oppression.

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6.6/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameLina VilkasBel PowleyNikolai KretzskyMartin WallstromElenaLisa Loven KongsliCommander KomarovPeter FranzenAndrius ArasJonah Hauer-KingOnaSophie CooksonKostas VilkasSam HazeldineJonas VilkasTom Sweet

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Crew

rolenameDirectorMarius A Markevicius

Details

Languages

English | Russian | Lithuanian

Guidance

violence

Available on

DVD

Formats

Colour

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