Bitter Harvest (2017)

Set in 1930s Ukraine, as Stalin advances the ambitions of communists in the Kremlin, young artist Yuri battles to save his lover Natalka from the Holodomor, the death-by-starvation program that ultimately killed millions of Ukrainians.

Director:

George Mendeluk

Writers:

Richard Bachynsky Hoover (screenplay), George Mendeluk (screenplay)

Stars:

Max Irons, Samantha Barks, Terence Stamp

7 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Richard Brake	...	Medved
Barry Pepper	...	Yaroslav
Max Irons	...	Yuri
Aneurin Barnard	...	Mykola
Terence Stamp	...	Ivan
Samantha Barks	...	Natalka
Nicholas Aaron	...	Walter Duranty
Tom Austen	...	Taras
Lucy Brown	...	Olena
Tamer Hassan	...	Sergei
Kathy Kiera Clarke	...	Varvara
Edward Akrout	...	Professor Temchuck
Gary Oliver	...	Stalin
William Beck	...	Stefan
Paul Hickey	...	Lazar Kaganovich

Storyline

Set between the two World Wars and based on true historical events, BITTER HARVEST conveys the untold story of the Holodomor, the genocidal famine engineered by the tyrant Joseph Stalin. The film displays a powerful tale of love, honour, rebellion and survival at a time when Ukraine was forced to adjust to the horrifying territorial ambitions of the burgeoning Soviet Union. With an exceptional cast of established and rising stars, the film epically recreates one of the most dramatic and dangerous episodes in the history of 20th Century Europe.

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Plot Keywords:

ukraine | famine | stalin | holodomor | genocide | 

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Taglines:

An epic film based on historical facts.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and disturbing images

Details

Official Sites:

Official Website

Country:

Canada UK

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

24 February 2017 (UK)

Also Known As:

Devil's Harvest

Filming Locations:

Kyiv, Ukraine

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$219,357, 26 February 2017, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$557,004, 31 March 2017

Company Credits

Production Co:

Devil's Harvest Production, Tell Me A Storey

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Max Irons and Aneurrin Barnard played brothers Edward IV and Richard III, respectively in The White Queen (2013)

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Quotes

Title card: [at the end of the film]
Title card: Only a few made their way past Stalin's border guards and escaped to freedom. The genocidal famine created by the Soviets in 1932/33 is known today as the Holodomor - Death by Starvation. The full horror of this deliberate policy of genocide towards Ukraine was revealed only after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 2003, Russia signed a U.N. declaration confirming that the Holodomor had taken the lives of between 7 and 10 million innocent people. Today, the ...

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Soundtracks

Shob na nashey nivkye
Traditional song, Performed by the "Rozhanitsa" group
Director: Inna Kovtun
Courtesy of Andamar Entertainment Inc.

User Reviews

Think the Holocaust was the greatest mass murder in history?

Well, not even close. Communism in the 20th century murdered 100,000,000 (Buy and read the "Black Book of Communism" - 800 plus pages - so not for Millenials) and this is a taste of that murder. This Holodomor _ Death by Hunger was purposeful, evil, malevolent and ultimately stupid. Oh, Muslims (Moghuls) murdered 60,000,000 Hindus - we await those movies.

Americans know of the Holocaust and some other historical events but are utterly clueless about history. You can observe that by the nonsense children are brainwashed with in government schools here in the US.

We need 100 more of these movies as the texting generation gets bored after a paragraph or two.

Did you know that the Soviets only had one American industry or group that reportedly directly to Moscow. Take a guess - rhymes with Bollywood and that is why this genre of movies will not be made in California. Too bad they are such "Useful Idiots" as Stalin used to call them.

Great movie. Well done and detested by the Left so you know it hit the bullseye.