Skip to main content
Film round-up
Van Connor and Maria Duarte review Dear Comrades!, Blithe Spirit, Outside the Wire, Stardust, and Imperial Blue

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.

Blithe Spirit (12A)
Directed by Edward Hall
★★

Outside the Wire (15)
Directed by Mikael Hafstrom
★★

Stardust (15)
Directed by Gabriel Range
★★

Imperial Blue (15)
Directed by Dan Moss

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
round up
Cinema / 2 April 2026
2 April 2026

LEO BOIX, ANGUS REID and MARIA DUARTE review Night Stage, Two Women, Kim Novak’s Vertigo, and Fuze

round up
Cinema / 4 December 2025
4 December 2025

LEO BOIX, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review Dreamers, It Was Just An Accident, Folktales, and Eternity

round up
Cinema / 22 August 2025
22 August 2025

ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review The Ceremony, Eddington, The Life of Chuck, and The Thursday Murder Club

modi
Cinema / 10 July 2025
10 July 2025

MICHAL BONCZA, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review The Other Way Around, Modi: Three Days On The Wing Of Madness, Watch The Skies, and Superman