Krovyanka

An already tense situation, with a young woman from the city meeting her provincial in-laws for the first time, is transformed in this work from Arkadiy Nepytaliuk into a form of social commentary. Blood-curdling images of a slaughter are interlaced with no less repulsive anti-Semitic comments. The message is clear: both ethnophobe and anti-Semitic attitudes remain for many, and not only in Eastern Europe, as much a part of tradition as the eponymous blood sausage and hospitality.

Despite the drama the film manages to create a village atmosphere that is inviting, even if a little quaint. This setting, in turn, makes the emotional turn the narrative later takes all the more shocking, as the audience are forced to question what the “values” behind the seemingly superficial facade of the jovial “good old days” really are. DJ