Robert Enrico's best films were always overlooked,with the exception of "les Aventuriers" .
Like some of his best works ("Au Coeur de la Vie" ,"La Belle Vie" )"Vent d'est" deals with war,to be precise with the victims of war.It's far superior to his overrated "Le Vieux Fusil" but nobody seems to care about it.Historian Jean Tulard hailed this movie and wrote about Enrico's bravery.
Some Ukrainian Lettonian and Estonian soldiers decided to fight against the red army and joined the ranks of the Germans.Their enemy was not the allies or their country,it was Staline.At the end of the war, the allies thought of handing them over to the Bolsheviks.They took refuge in Liechtenstein where the prince and Dr Hoop tried to save them.
As someone says in the movie,they had a good idea at a wrong time ,for after the war ,they were caught in the crossfire .
In spite of some occasional gaffes -there's no problem of language between people even with uneducated soldiers-,Robert Enrico's film is a beautiful one,a courageous work which sheds light on some outcasts ,some forgotten victims of a world gone mad.He casts against type sinister-looking Malcolm McDowell as the Finnish colonel who tries to save the men who put their trust in him ,and good-natured Wojciech Pszoniak as the terrifying Russian officer .
Even more terrifying is Ludmilla Mikael's captain Barinkova ,with her sweet words,her motherly look ("yes your mother's waiting for you there in your homeland;she's missing you" "yes,you'll carry on with your studies at the university,one more year and you'll become a doctor,we need men like you").
Enrico tried to show ,next to the officers,the politicians and the nobles ,the humble people who do not know where they stand anymore.
"You're a tiny country ,we are giants ,our power knows no bounds !" the Russian officers yell.As they did not read the Bible ,they had forgotten David and Goliath.Which did not prevent some of those poor soldiers from listening to the sirens' song.
