Parents' Guide to

Bitter Harvest

By S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Disappointing drama shows brutal historical violence.

Movie R 2017 103 minutes
Bitter Harvest Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 1 parent review

age 15+

Buried History of Ukrainian Famine Finally Told in Film (my comments on Bitter Harvest, published in Globe and Mail, 3 March 2017)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/buried-history-of-ukrainian-fa…

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1):
Kids say: Not yet rated

There are many groundbreaking ways you could tell the story of a people's struggle with heartbreaking brutality and genocide, but this movie doesn't use them. Well-meaning but shackled by sentiment and tone-deafness, the movie suffers from its choice to frame this horrendous moment in history via a childhood romance. It's neither Irons' nor Barks' fault -- their performances are filled with passion and emotion, as is Stamp's.

Rather, Bitter Harvest's filmmakers (both director and writers) who rely too much on voice overs that deflate the storytelling and leave it devoid of momentum. They should have made the tragedy the centerpiece of the movie, not the romance -- it would have been better to tell a straightforward history if they wanted to bear witness to this bleak period in history. See it to learn about Holodomor, which everyone should know about, but not for the artistry.

Movie Details

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