EAST-WEST A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
Naiveté can be dangerous to your health. Signs with these words should have been required on the entrance to the Soviet Union after the end of World War II as many Russian expatriates fled the freedom of the West to return to their motherland. Ignoring the rumors that Stalin was no less a mass murderer than Hitler, they entered a mad house run by a tyrannical dictator who committed atrocities with abandon.
Once inside this insane asylum of a country, they were in a Catch-22 world. Even inquiring about leaving caused you to be declared an enemy of the state. Such criminals were shot or sent to labor camps from which they might never be seen again. But not trying to leave was almost as risky since anyone could denounce you at anytime for any reason, causing the same result.
Into this hellhole in EAST-WEST (EST-OUEST), a Russian doctor, Alexei Golovin (Oleg Menshikov from BURNT BY THE SUN), and his French wife, Marie (Sandrine Bonnaire from THE CEREMONY), immigrate along with their son. No sooner have they arrived than their boat load of people are divided into the young and old, with the old being promptly shot. Marie doesn't look long for this world after the local KGB operative arrests her, explaining to Alexei that "90% of immigrants returning to Russia are imperialist spies."
After Alexei convinces the KGB agent to release his wife, the family goes to live a meager existence in an old house with 5 other families. Thursday, they are told sternly, is the day that their family gets the bathroom. The house is a hotbed of rumors, denunciations and black market goods. Once there, the family squabbles begin. Marie is sure that she is willing to risk everything to escape, reasoning that "every prison has a way out." Her husband's beliefs, on the other hand, are much more ambiguous -- perhaps because he's more practical, perhaps because he isn't as brave or perhaps because he feels bound to his homeland.
EAST-WEST is inspired by history, but not based on a true story. As directed by Régis Wargnier and written by Sergei Bodrov and Louis Gardel, the film is populated with characters who ring just a few notes shy of true. The chemistry between Marie and Alexei never seems genuine, and the writers have them casually sleeping around with next-door neighbors and coworkers.
The plot device of the young, championship swimmer (Sergei Bodrov Jr.), who has various schemes to swim his way to his freedom and Marie's, never seems believable. Certainly incidents like that happened, but here it feels awkwardly grafted onto the story like sticking a cherry limb onto an oak tree.
Too often murky and with too many characters, the film works best when the director focuses attention firmly on the leads and their actions. For a similar, much better film, see LUCIE AUBRAC. In it, the acting was stronger and the directing sharper.
"The only hope for humanity: Communism," Khrushchev proclaims in a television address late in the picture. One cannot but appreciate the hardships that the people under Communism faced. EAST-WEST does succeed in reminding us of that.
EAST-WEST runs 2:01. The film is in French and Russian with English subtitles. It is not rated but might be PG-13 for wartime violence and would be fine for teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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