User reviews

An isolated village of Mennonites in the Ukraine discovers that the country is now run by Communists. The local commander kills the village's scouts, and sends troops under Valéry Inkijinoff, who persuades pastor Friedrich Kayßler that it is their Christian duty to send their surplus food to a starving nation When that is done, Inkijinoff returns, he gives orders that everything but barely enough to get through the winter must be sent. He also starts to court Jessie Vihrog, Meanwhile, cynical Fritz Hoopts argues that the communists will destroy the village and must be fought. His position gains support as the troopers' behavior grows more outrageous.

There were Mennonites in Russia. Catherine the Great,who had been a German princess, offered transportation, land, loans, and autonomy. By 1871, almost 80,000 immigrants had settled near the Black Sea and by the Volga.

This was tough to get through the first thirty or forty minutes. The communists were so very evil, and the visuals support this, with Inkijinoff leading his cavalrymen to the village, riding in long profile along mountain ridges, like Apaches in a John Ford western. He also offers a nicely textured performance as an officer since Tsarist days, complaining about the lack of beauty and happiness in the worker's paradise, and suggesting that Miss Vihrog flee the country with him.

But mostly it's hateful. Russians are stupid, communists are evil, and good peaceful Germans have no idea how awful they can be. Even the graceful camerawork by Sepp Allgeier can't overcome this. When the plot must move on, his camera falls still and it's all annoyance as you wait for the villagers to realize what's going on, and do something about it.