The film is based on Ruta Sepetys’ novel Between Shades of Grey, which is inspired by actual events. However, these characters and Lina’s story are fictional. Ashes in the Snow is a good, yet unsatisfying movie with the potential to have been so much better. The pace is too slow, and the characters’ arcs are predictable. The depiction of horrifying tragedies is upsetting but watchable. There are uplifting elements of romance as Lina falls for a fellow captive, Andrius Aras (Jonah Hauer-King).
Overall, I expected Lina’s artwork to play a greater part in shaping the narrative. A missed opportunity for creative storytelling does this film a disservice. Instead of standing apart from similar stories, we see another despicable and lamentably unsurprising story of oppression and survival.
Ashes in the Snow (2018) Directed by Marius A. Markevicius. Written by Ben York Jones, Ruta Sepetys (novel). Starring Bel Powley, Peter Franzén, Sophie Cookson, Jonah Hauer-King, James Cosmo.
7 out of 10 stars
this movie is based on the Baltic genocide committed by the Soviets, around ą million people died. This movie portrays the struggles and hardships people went through that might not satisfy you, but THAT is the history of the Lithuanian people who where silenced for many decades.