A Jump in Time

Burnt by the Sun was not what I expected. I suppose I was looking for a film that would villanize Stalin by showing dead babies, crying mothers, poor underfed peasants, and general unhappiness.
Surprisingly, that was not the film that I viewed today, but it was an effective movie in spite of its lack of obvious in your face anti-socialism.
The movie didn't really seem truly unhappy until the last few scenes. I felt myself grow very fond of the characters, worrying desperately that an Irony of Fate twist would happen in the love story of Colonol Kotov and Marusia. The relationship between Nadya and Kotov really was what made the film meaningful to me. I wanted to cry at the ending of the movie, not because I felt bad for the general Soviet peasant, or because I saw a man die, but for the breaking of the life that the Kotov family could have had had they not been caught up in the whirlwind of Russia in the 30's.
I felt that Nadya was the subtle weapon used to make me understand the pain of the times, and she was the right choice of weapon as well.

One more slight thing that I can't help but mention was the fireball. I realized later of course that it was the sun, mentioned in the title. At first I felt that it was a bit cheesy, but once the last bit of film played and the quote was displayed, "For those who were burnt by the sun of the revolution", it didn't really matter whether it was cheesy cause at that time it seemed to click and work.