SPOILER ALERT!!!
I love World War II stuff. Documentaries, Books, and Films! Last night I took the time to watch a Russian film on YouTube titled "Franz + Polina" and I'm glad I did! The film is a love story that takes place in "White Russia" or Belarus during the time of, you guessed it, World War II! It starts off with a German Waffen SS(the military branch of Himmler's SS) unit occupying a local Belorussian village where a girl named Polina lives with her mother. Polina's father and brother have left to fight in the Red Army, as have most of the men in the village, while others have taken to the woods to either hide from the occupying Germans or to fight with the Partisans. Franz, an SS-Schütze or Private, is infatuated with Polina although they do not understand one another and continues to flirt with her(who flirts back with him) despite his SS-Unterscharführer or Sergeant's disapproval. Franz and the Sergeant have also been staying at the home of Polina and her mother, who cook for them and in one scene, hold up mirrors for them to shave with in the morning.
The Sergeant tells Franz not to take things so serious with Polina and informs him that he will have her the next day, however, Franz is in love with Polina and cannot help but take things serious with her. The next day arrives and Franz, the Sergeant, and all of the other Waffen-SS soldiers get dressed up in their uniforms and go on a march. Polina is impressed by Franz's appearance in uniform saying that he looks like "a shiny copper coin" and is unaware what is to come. The Sergeant and Franz stop by Polina and her mother's house for breakfast and the Sergeant get's onto Franz for not keeping his eye on Polina insisting that he will have her in an hour. The hour comes and suddenly all of the SS soldiers begin to massacre all of the villagers and burn the houses to the ground. The Sergeant starts shooting at Polina's mother and tells Franz to rape Polina but Franz shoots the Sergeant instead and Polina puts him in a hiding place with her and her mother under the floor of their home. The SS then murder everyone in the village and burn all of the homes to the ground and leave.
Franz then throws his Waffen-SS uniform away and puts on some of Polina's brother's clothing and she hides him in a nearby cemetery. Polina's brother and other soldiers come and visit the village and find his mother and Polina. He asks her where her "German" is but she says that the Partisans took him. He then tells her that if they didn't take him far, to tell him to leave and then leaves with the other Red Army soldiers. Polina and Franz then bury the bones of some of the villagers for her mother who then sits by a tree and passes away. Franz and Polina then pack up some food, clothing, and tools and go to the woods. There in the woods they find an empty hut where they stay for a couple of days. Franz goes down to the river to catch fish when Polina is attacked by wild dogs. Franz comes back just in time to save her and get her to safety in the hut where they make love and she becomes pregnant.
The next day some Belorussian collaborators find them and bring them to another Waffen-SS unit. Polina tells them that Franz is her mute brother and Franz pretends not to be able to speak. The collaborators are ordered to let them go but when they bring them to the edge of the woods, the collaborators shoot Polina and Franz gets away. He finds a cart where some local people were murdered by the SS and takes it and puts Polina on it. He then blends into a group of refugees who get to a town but are kept out by the Wehrmacht and more collaborators. A doctor checks on Polina but cannot help her because he has no medicine or supplies. Franz then goes to the town and kills one of the Wehrmacht soldiers and takes his uniform and buys the medicine she needs. When he gets back a young boy is amazed that a mute man could get the medicine needed until Franz falls to the ground, sick with typhoid fever and starts to mutter things in German, thus giving up his true identity.
Time passes and they both get well and Polina says that she told the people the truth about Franz and what he did for her mother. Instead of killing them, the people have allowed them to join them except for the young boy who was amazed about Franz getting the medicine. This boys family was murdered by the Germans and has vowed to kill Franz with a gun that he traded his father's watch for. The boy's godmother tries to stop him but the boy has already set his mind to it. Polina gets dehydrated due to her pregnancy and Franz goes to the river to get her water when he turns to see the boy pointing the gun at him. Franz says the boys name in surprise and tells him the water is for Polina. In the last scene of the movie, the boy brings the buckets of water to Polina and starts to stroke her face until she realizes who it is and that he has killed Franz and starts to scream.
I thought this was a great film! I love when films use the actual languages of the characters rather than having everyone speak the same language like Valkyrie or The Longest Day. A 20th century Romeo and Juliet is a good way to describe this film and I totally give it an easy five stars! Also I really enjoyed the tragic ending because happy endings are for children's stories in my opinion! Check this movie out if you haven't seen it already! You can find it with English subtitles on YouTube right now!
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