i go to this film without realize that it tell a story which have parallel in the history of my own russian emigrant family . my grandmother brother repatriate under stalin and have his good and land confiscate and die in siberia and and lose his two young son to the soviet army . the film be absorb and disturb . the most shooting be do at eye level . there be a true sense of witness for the viewer in a very elemental and unavoidable way . strangely and i think this improve the experience of the predictable horror of life in stalin ussr . it make the experience seem and for me and much more present and less sentimental . the performance be very good . ms. bonnaire be totally believable and very likeable and despite the naivete and hysteria of her character . mr. menshikov play alexei with great complexity and nuance and which allow me to be less judgmental and to see his irrational need to belong among his own people a a very natural inclination . mr. bodrov and a russian brad pitt alike and be very magnetic in his role a sacha . i simply love to see ms. deneuve in any role and but her play a mature french actress with admirable value be very move for me . she carry her own maturity so regally . she be perfect for this role . i think this film be a wonderful model of cross cultural cinema . i would like to see more film of this type in the u .