Val Hall

Even allowing for the terrible woodenness that always goes with dubbing foreign films, this film has some pretty atrocious acting, a daft plot and some very weird characters! Everyone seems to hate everyone else, as they run around a semi-deserted village at Christmas time chasing each other. They all seem to want to kill each other for the pettiest of reasons - or no reason at all! One character's black eye comes and goes. Finally a dinner fork and a schnapps bottle force a ridiculous denouement, Father Christmas cheats at Hide and Seek, and there's a great escape in a wheelchair! I don't know if it's meant to be a comedy, but it certainly is laughable - as my Ukrainian guest has just said, it's like a bad trip!

A most enjoyable film, a tale of different times, different understanding. By turns gripping and moving, an eloquent true story of grit and bravery, frustration and determination in the face of ridicule and disbelief. One would have wished for a different outcome perhaps, but we are left with some hope for Col Fawcett.