Thanks to YouTube I have seen this incredibly well filmed series. The first half works for me the best, as it deals with a family farming against all odds preceding WW2 and during the Communist period of Russian history. I will not add to the spoilers of the synopsis but simply to say that it is one of the most gruelling, and yet uplifting scenarios I have seen for a long time. Cut to basics it concentrates in the main upon the four children of the Morosov family, from grandparents to parents and four children. Two boys and two girls; one boy grows to become a doctor while the other played in manhood excellently by Yuriy Borisov is made lame by a falling tree, but fights back at life despite all obstacles including his passionate love for his twin sister. This tight cobweb of relationships is at times worthy of a Dostoyevsky novel. With shades of ' The Brothers Karamazov ' in some of it and very human joys and degradations of his other work. Incest, terrible beatings of men and women, initiated by men is often hard to watch, and the camera is unflinching in detail without resorting to sensationalism. I almost lost count but the War episodes begin just before the second part of the allotted 14 hours viewing time. The brutality there is equally portrayed but does not reach the heights of Klimov's terrifying ' Come and See ' or Shepitko's ' The Ascent ' both towering masterpieces of Soviet cinema. This is no criticism. Given the format of the series how could they be ? But very, very good this series is and deserves a full ten for being mature, thoughtful and the scenes of love and tenderness are overwhelming. I urge anyone to watch this as we are going through difficult times and this series shows above all else that we can do very little to avoid the historical circumstances we are living through, and are born to at times embrace and at other times endure.
