Belaya ptitsa s chyornoy otmetinoy
Bilyj ptach z čornoju oznakoju
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A film ballad from Bukovina in southwestern Ukraine covers one decade (roughly 1940–1950), with the country undergoing a turbulent development. Territorial conflicts with neighbouring Romania, Nazi occupation, and liberation by the Red Army, in the wake of which a new life bothered by shadows of the past in the form of desperate chauvinism – all those events get reflected in the life of the poor Zvonars family whose four sons get entangled in the twists and turns of their homeland's history. (Febiofest)
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Ukraine in the grip of historical constants. As an economically underdeveloped country lagging behind developed Europe, it, along with its rural inhabitants, is forced to live in a regular natural rhythm - in cyclical time. On the historical level, there is a never-ending cycle of changes in political rulers, and occupations, and an influx and outflow of soldiers in various uniforms. Just as history can tear apart this poor country, it can also disrupt the families of its inhabitants. Forever divided and divided again, Central and Eastern Europe finds its reflection in the senseless fight of brother against brother. (In 1971, it may have seemed that the end of the worst war in history had finally put an end to it. Yet here we are again...) Thanks to all those old costumes and the folk style of life, Ukrainian films look as if they were captured in some timeless world, in a fairy-tale time, where the names of kingdoms and heroes change, but the principles and stories remain the same.
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