Bilyi ptakh z chornoyu oznakoyu

 A star ensemble led by Larysa Kadochnikova (as the priest's daughter Dana), Bohdan Stupka and, last but not least, Ivan Mykolaichuk, who was also the idea man, screenwriter and composer, marks this monument of Ukrainian poetic cinema set in a Hutsul village between 1937 and 1947. The large Zvonar family ekes out a living by making music. When the Soviets replace authoritarian Romania in 1940 and the brothers Petro and Orest have to join the armed forces, one joins the Red Army while the other becomes a "Ukrainian nationalist." A political hot potato, the film won its battle against the Soviet censors of the time. (bw)