Wonderful story about the musicians who were persecuted during the Cold War. A French/Russian collaboration bringing the best of the two traditions together. Passionate film making, hilarious, poetic and such wonderful characterisations as well as the music to take you to another place altogether... one of the best films I have ever had the pleasure in seeing.
Overall, a fun film to watch with a high standard of acting and dramatic moments. However, for those who have friends who survived the very challenging conditions of living under Bolshevik communism, there is a great misrepresentation that it was the Jews in Russia who were the victims of the communist tyranny, rather than the Christian Russians. The fact is the majority of the political commissars were Jewish and thus the Jewish musicians were rarely targeted.
Going beyond political truths, a film worth watching.