Emotion missing from tragic story
The Holodomor, the historic event at the center of “Bitter Harvest,” is a devastating chapter in the chronicles of long-embattled Ukraine and now widely regarded as an act of genocide by the Soviet regime. Given the scope of the early-1930s atrocity, the most shocking thing about director George Mendeluk’s new dramatization is how utterly devoid of emotional impact it is.
Shooting in Ukraine, the filmmaker achieves a physical authenticity and offers intriguing glimpses of local customs, but the story that he and his ill-served cast enact is an unwieldy excess of incident and cliché. The screenplay, credited to Richard Bachynsky-Hoover and Mendeluk, hits nearly every note with such deadening lack of nuance that, with the exception of a few strong moments delivered by Barry Pepper and especially Terence Stamp, there’s no room for audience involvement in the torments and travails of a village.
A bland Max Irons stars as Yuri, whose art academy studies and romance between him and his childhood sweetheart, Natalka (Samantha Barks), offer a heavy-handed but nonetheless instructive capsule depiction of some of the wideranging effects of Moscow’s tightening screws.
During the rare moments when the film escapes its melodramatic trappings, its specific horrors draw matter-of-fact connections to a wider sense of history. However ungainly it is, the story of Yuri’s redemption does, at least, shed light on the Holodomor. “Bitter Harvest.” Rating: R, for violence and disturbing images. Running time: 1 hour, 43 minutes. Playing: In limited release.