Snowfall in a birch grove, a woman toying with the ribbon of her dress, and wild apple blossoms radiant in the sunlight. The beautiful imagery belies a sinister history in which tens of thousands of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians were forcibly removed from their homes, separated from loved ones, starved and abused at the hands of the Soviet Union and Stalin. Many were exterminated. The world rarely notes those whose suffering endured long after World War II ended. In black and white tableaux vivants that are at once beautiful as they are tragic, and with passages from actual letters, audiences may begin to understand what happened here. "I promise I won't ever be mad at you again," a woman writes to her husband who, unknown to her, is among those put to death. "Just tell me how to find you," she pleads. The brutal ethnic cleansing is presented in such a way, through the personal experience of Erna and her little daughter Eliide, that is as spellbinding as it is sobering and sorrowful. The history lesson comes not in the form of a harangue, but is one of haunting beauty in requiem for the innocent tears and blood. "I see how you looked at me when we first met," a woman writes of a dream "and I hear your voice telling me that we will be together forever." In this brilliant piece by a new director, these enthralling voices will finally be heard and remembered. One of my favorite films, also known as Risttuules, at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.
Review of In the Crosswind
