Review: Bitter Harvest DVD

Bitter Harvest tells an interesting, and topical, story about the Ukrainian country and its people battling against the Stalin-led Soviet Union. The performances are mostly well done headlined by Max Irons.

 

 

Bitter Harvest
(2016)

Genre(s): Drama, War
Lionsgate | R – 104 min. – $19.98 | June 13, 2017

Date Published: 06/01/2017 | Author: The Movieman

 

MOVIE INFO: Directed by: George Mendeluk Writer(s): Richard Bachynsky-Hoover (story), Richard Bachynsky-Hoover and George Mendeluk (screenplay) Cast: Max Irons, Samantha Barks, Barry Pepper, Tamer Hassan, Terence Stamp DISC INFO: Features: Gallery Digital Copy: No Formats Included: DVD Number of Discs: 1 Audio: English (Dolby Digital 5.1) Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35 Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish Region(s): 1

 

PLOT SYNOPSIS

Bitter Harvest is a powerful story of love, honor, rebellion and survival as seen through the eyes of two young lovers caught in the ravages of Joseph Stalin’s policies of intolerance against Ukraine in the 1930s. As Stalin advances the ambitions of the burgeoning Soviet Union, a young artist named Yuri (MAX IRONS) overcomes famine, imprisonment, and torture to save his childhood love, Natalka (SAMANTHA BARKS), from the “Holodomor.” Against this explosive backdrop, Yuri escapes from a Soviet prison and joins the anti-Bolshevik resistance movement as he battles to reunite with Natalka and continue the fight for a free Ukraine.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES – 0.5/5

This release comes with a matted slip cover. The only feature includes a Gallery.

 

VIDEO – 3.75/5, AUDIO – 3.5/5

Lionsgate releases Bitter Harvest onto DVD presented with a 16×9 enhanced 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio and given a standard but serviceable Dolby Digital 5.1 track offering clear dialogue levels and some modest depth with the war sequences.

OVERALL – 3.0/5

Overall, Bitter Harvest tells an interesting, and topical, story about the Ukrainian country and its people battling against the Stalin-led Soviet Union. The performances are mostly well done headlined by Max Irons. The DVD released by Lionsgate offers decent video/audio transfers but is lackluster in the features department.