Movie-Since Otar Left

The post USSR break-up film is quite good.

Focusing on a family in Georgia, part of the former Soviet Union and now independent country, Since Otar Left illustrates three generations of women living under the same roof. The grandmother, who still idolizes Stalin, the daughter who tries to hold the family together despite unemployment and poverty rampant in the country, and the granddaughter, who is of a generation that sees that things can be different.

The Otar of the title is the son of the grandmother and brother of the daughter, who has left Georgia to go to Paris to make a better life. He occasionally sends letters and a bit of money to home. He is the apple of his mother's eye, so when he dies in Paris, the two younger women cannot bear to tell her the truth, fearing it would kill her.

The film is poignant and sad...sad about how badly the former Soviet republics are doing, and sad because he grandmother cannot see that her daughter is caring for her so well, despite the difficulties. Somehow Otar can do no wrong.

This is a good movie,and touching, and a bit sad. But at the end it allows for a new generation to make things better.