Kirpianuscus at the first sigh, a story just for the Eastern public. because only a viewer from East Europe/ maybe from Mediteranean area/ could understand the nuances and the force of message. because the basic tool for discover its beauty is to know the status of grandmother in the family. she is the axis and the wise adviser and the source of joy and the educator and the keeper of the secrets, tradition and traces of the past, pieces from the treasure of family identity. this film is about the fall of this special status. and about the price for this event. result - a touching story about hope and sacrifice and faith and trust. and about the importance of roots. nothing more. but real useful. for see the life. and the other. in different light.

stensson This is about Russia of today. A nation there, according to this movie, not only the economy is wicked but the people too. Even towards their old relatives.Nobody wants the Babusya. Everybody thinks about themselves and their comfort. It's not a question of economy, it's just that they don't want the old lady in their homes, even if she digged trenches at Stalingrad, even if she sold her house and gave the money to her grandchildren and even if she is their grandmother.People say things that you realise afterwards is important. "Satan exists" is said as a joke, but it isn't a joke, it's true. Some of the relatives have conscience and cries about their evilness and the fact that there is nothing they can do about it. A very dark film and also a religious one. See it, if you have the oppurtunity.

phranger This is a made-for-HDTV film, and it shows. The cinematography itself is not great either, and the acting and direction are highly uneven (The title role is admirably played by Nina Shubina, but most of the cast is non-professional.) Put that down to the cost of getting the film made at all. Story background -- The film takes place in the Archangelsk region. After raising her family, Tosia raised her daughter Vera's four children while she and her husband were off working on the trains on two-week shifts. The grandchildren are raised, Tosia has sold her house and given them the proceeds, and lives with Vera and her husband. For a tragic reason, she's sent off to her widowed younger sister's, in a village. The sister breaks a hip and her daughter Lysa, a successful TV journalist, tries to put Granny (Babusya) up with her cousins (Tosia's grandchildren). She essentially fails. The object of the film, however, is not this story which, as others have noted, in one form or another is an ageless classic. Rather, it is the contrast between what may be called "old Russians", still centered on their village (mostly women and mostly old), and what the film calls "new Russians", the younger generation busy making it in the city, and which in ten or fifteen years has managed to perfectly learn to look out for numero uno. (Or perfectly unlearn humanity, as one "old Russian", Oleg (?), puts it to a new Russian.) The hardest blows aimed at Granny occur in her absence, addressed to Lysa, who in a sense stands for the audience. Lysa explains to Oleg that "the new Russians are the masters of *that* world". Oleg answers, "Are you sure you're part of *this* world, then?"The "old Russians'" daily life is carefully depicted. The film will interest those who are attracted by this depiction, and only then by the contrast with the "new Russian" class.

Timothy Damon Tolstoy said that happy families were all alike; unhappy families are unhappy in their own distinct way. In this family, grandmother Tosia - who dug ditches at the front in WWII, took care of her daughter's children, and divided the proceeds of the sale of her house to her two sons and daughter - is threatened with homelessness. Regardless of her sacrifices in the past for her extended family, scarcely any of her relatives express willingness to take her in. And the more well-off they are, the more antipathy they seem to possess.Not necessarily a pleasant theme - but one probably existent in all cultures to some extent.