Dear Comrades!
Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky
★★★★

RUSSIAN film-maker Andrei Konchalovsky’s historical drama takes a meticulous and commanding look at one of the Soviet Union’s darkest chapters: the Novocherkassk massacre of 1962, in which more than 25 unarmed people were reportedly killed, and more than 85 injured, by Soviet troops.

Russia’s official entry to this years Academy Awards explores the carnage and the following cover up — decades-long, as it transpires — through the eyes of a devout party activist Lyuda (played superbly by Konchalovsky’s wife Julia Vysotskaya, born in Novocherkassk) who only begins to question her blind patriotism and loyalty when her own family becomes involved.