← Back to Reviews
in
This line, delivered towards the end of this bleak, post-apocalyptic drama from the Soviet Union, highlights what I think is the main line of thought of the film; the idea of transmitting hope in spite of everything against it. Set in this post-nuclear wasteland, Dead Man's Letters follows Larsen (Rolan Bykov), a professor determined to find hope somewhere, anywhere.
But how can we find hope when everything around us is in ruins? When everybody is telling us it is futile? When all our loved ones are gone? The film presents us a world that seems completely beyond hope, as people are forced to live underground, while wearing protective clothing and gas masks outside to keep them safe from the polluted air, the dirty water, and the scattered carcasses.
Although the slim hopes of most people rely on the existence of a "central bunker", Larsen is sure that there has to be more outside of that. Released towards the end of the Cold War, this seems like a very clear analogy of the centralized aspect of communism in the Soviet country; something that results in fewer resources, and therefore fewer chances to "survive" outside of this "centralized" system.
I do wish that the character of Larsen would feel more real, more relatable. The film goes for a bit of a more cold and distant approach that keeps its characters at a distance. And even though the despair and hopelessness of the situation does come through, I feel that a more emotional and character-driven approach could've been more powerful.
At several points, Larsen interacts with a group of orphaned children that have been discarded and pretty much left to die. It is in them that Larsen sees the hope of a future in this world, and it is to them that he shares the above story about "a star". Maybe he saw it, maybe not, but when darkness takes over, sometimes we have to hold on to the hope that that star is there.
Grade:
DEAD MAN'S LETTERS
(1986, Lopushansky)
(1986, Lopushansky)
" 'Look, o you shall see a star'. But there were no stars in the sky for the darkness took over the world."
This line, delivered towards the end of this bleak, post-apocalyptic drama from the Soviet Union, highlights what I think is the main line of thought of the film; the idea of transmitting hope in spite of everything against it. Set in this post-nuclear wasteland, Dead Man's Letters follows Larsen (Rolan Bykov), a professor determined to find hope somewhere, anywhere.
But how can we find hope when everything around us is in ruins? When everybody is telling us it is futile? When all our loved ones are gone? The film presents us a world that seems completely beyond hope, as people are forced to live underground, while wearing protective clothing and gas masks outside to keep them safe from the polluted air, the dirty water, and the scattered carcasses.
Although the slim hopes of most people rely on the existence of a "central bunker", Larsen is sure that there has to be more outside of that. Released towards the end of the Cold War, this seems like a very clear analogy of the centralized aspect of communism in the Soviet country; something that results in fewer resources, and therefore fewer chances to "survive" outside of this "centralized" system.
I do wish that the character of Larsen would feel more real, more relatable. The film goes for a bit of a more cold and distant approach that keeps its characters at a distance. And even though the despair and hopelessness of the situation does come through, I feel that a more emotional and character-driven approach could've been more powerful.
At several points, Larsen interacts with a group of orphaned children that have been discarded and pretty much left to die. It is in them that Larsen sees the hope of a future in this world, and it is to them that he shares the above story about "a star". Maybe he saw it, maybe not, but when darkness takes over, sometimes we have to hold on to the hope that that star is there.
Grade: