Despite the Falling Snow is a spy thriller and a love story which premiered in 2016.
There are two story lines in this movie: the first line takes place during the Cold War between East and West.
The second line takes place around the time when the Soviet Union ceased to exist.
Here is some basic information about this movie:
** Produced by Hanan Kattan, Lisa Tchenguiz and Kevan Van Thompson
** Written and directed by Shamim Sarif
** Based on the director’s book Despite the Falling Snow (2004)
** Run time: 90 minutes
For your information: the producer Hanan Kattan is the spouse of the writer and director Shamim Sarif.
The cast includes the following:
** Rebecca Ferguson as Katya (1959-1961) and Lauren, Katya’s niece (1991-1992)
** Antje Traue as Marina (1992)
** Sam Reid as young Alex
** Charles Dance as old Alex
** Oliver Jackson as young Misha
** Anthony Head as old Misha
I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. This is why I am not going to say too much about what happens in this movie. But I have to mention a few details in order to explain and justify my rating.
I will tell you how the story begins and present the general structure of the movie.
As stated above, there are two story-lines here. The first line we can call the past. It takes place during the Cold War between East and West, 1959-1961.
The second line we can call the present. It takes place around the time when the Soviet Union ceased to exist, 1991-1992.
In both lines there are two locations: sometimes we are in the west, i.e. in the US; sometimes we are in the east, i.e. in the USSR or Russia.
The movie flips back and forth between the past and the present, between east and west. You have to pay attention to find out where we are in time and place.
Actress Rebecca Ferguson, who was born and raised in Sweden, appears in both story-lines. In the past, she plays the role of Katya. In the present, she plays the role of Lauren, Katya’s niece.
The movie opens with a dramatic episode. We are in the past (1961). A Soviet trade delegation is visiting the US. Alex, a member of the delegation wants to defect. The Americans are ready for him. Soviet agents are right behind him, trying to catch him, but he manages to get away.
Once Alex is in the car, speeding towards his freedom, he is safe but also concerned: what about his wife Katya? He does not want to defect without her. But now the deal is done. It is too late to go back.
From the past (1961) we move forward to the present (1991). Alex is now an old man who has lived in the US for many years. But Katya never showed up. And he still does not know what happened to her.
In his apartment, there is a young woman, Lauren, who is Katya’s niece. She looks a lot like Katya. This is not surprising, because both roles are played by the same actress.
What happened to Katya? Why did she not follow Alex to the west? This is what the movie is all about. Solving the mystery of Katya’s fate. I will not give you the answer. If you wish to know what happened, you will have to watch the movie all the way to the end.
What do reviewers say about it? Here are the results of three review aggregators:
09 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)
33 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
33 percent = Meta
58 percent = IMDb
When you look at Rotten Tomatoes, you can see that there is a gap between the professional critics and the general audience. It seems the audience likes this movie more than the critics.
For the record: the rating of 09 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes is not a misprint for 19 or 29 or 39. The rating really is 09 per cent. This is one of the lowest average ratings I have ever seen.
Many reviewers offer 2 of 5 stars (40 percent):
** The Guardian (Peter Bradshaw)
** The Daily Express (UK)
** The Daily Mail (UK)
** The Daily Telegraph
** The Independent
** Empire online
** Den of Geek
** Hey U Guys
I understand the low ratings and I agree with them. There are many reasons to give this movie a low rating. It has many flaws:
# 1. The language. All actors speak English. Not a single Russian word is spoken in this movie, even though many scenes take place in Moscow and even though several characters are Russians. Perhaps the director could not find any Russian actors? Perhaps the director is afraid of using subtitles?
Having Russian characters speak English among each other is not very realistic; not very authentic. People are dressed up in Russian uniforms and placed in a location that looks like Moscow (although it clearly is not), but then they let them speak English to each other!
# 2. Young Alex does not look like old Alex. Young Misha does not look like old Misha. Some actors are seriously miscast.
# 3. In the movie, we see how Alex and Katya meet, but we never see how they fall in love. First, they meet and then they are married. But how did this happen? I think something is missing here.
# 4. Katya’s niece Lauren lives in New York with Alex. How did this happen? How did the niece get to New York? This is never explained.
# 5. Katya is a spy who meets Alex in order to get close to him. She wants to get so close that she can steal some of the secrets he knows and hand them over to the west.
What does Alex do? What is his job? What kind of secrets does he have or know that are so interesting that Katya wants to get close to him? We are never told what he does.
We know he is a member of a trade delegation. Does he have access to any top secrets about the USSR? This is not very likely. The whole idea of Katya approaching Alex in order to get hold of some important secret seems very far-fetched. At least it is never explained to us.
# 6. What about the peculiar title of the movie?
Despite the Falling Snow
What does it mean? Why does the movie have this title? This is never explained.
The movie is based on a book with the same title. The book is written by the director of the movie. But she never explains why she chose this title.
The title of the movie and the book is borrowed from a poem by the British author Robert Graves (1895-1985). The words “Despite the Falling Snow” form the last line of a short poem which begins with the words “She tells her love…”
In the book, this poem is printed on the frontispiece. But the author does not explain what it is doing there.
As far as I can see, not a single reviewer mentions the connection with Robert Graves. Not a single reviewer tries to explain the title of the movie.
Perhaps they did not want to admit that they did not understand the significance of the title. I have thought about it, as you can see, but I am not sure what the answer is. If anyone can explain it, I would like to know what the answer is.
I have not read the book, so I do not know how closely the movie follows the book. It is possible that some of the facts which are unexplained in the movie are explained in the book.
Since the writer of the screenplay is also the author of the book, it is possible that the writer of the screenplay did not feel that anything was missing, because it is in the book, which she knows so well, because she wrote it herself.
Julia Smith reviews this movie for the online magazine Film Inquiry. It is a long and detailed review. I want to quote the conclusion of her review:
“I hate to be harsh, because I feel like there was potential in this film. But it’s a potential that was wasted.”
I agree with this statement. I also agree with the numerous reviews which offer this movie 2 out of 5 stars.
This rating seems to be right. This movie deserves a rating of two stars (40 percent).
*****
Despite the Falling Snow
A spy thriller and a love story
by Shamim Sarif
(2004)
*****
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