This black/white film successfully blends narrative style with artistic cinematography to depict the 1941 Soviet expulsion of native Estonians to labor camps and extermination camps in Siberia through 1945-1949.
The opening and closing sequences in pre-holocaust days consist of silent action over a spoken letter of a woman to her husband. As the expulsions start, the voice-over letter reading continues while the camera moves through tableaux of still figures, ever weaving as the populace is taken by cattle cars to Siberia and the labor camps. Every deprivation gains greater force through the expressive camera and its exploration of dozens of people involved in each event.
The opening and closing sequences in pre-holocaust days consist of silent action over a spoken letter of a woman to her husband. As the expulsions start, the voice-over letter reading continues while the camera moves through tableaux of still figures, ever weaving as the populace is taken by cattle cars to Siberia and the labor camps. Every deprivation gains greater force through the expressive camera and its exploration of dozens of people involved in each event.