Barbara is a decent film – interesting, beautifully filmed, well-conceived. My problem is that I expected it to be an “escape from a communist country” film, and it’s really not. It’s a slow, careful look at life in a communist country and the somewhat conflicted appeal of the idea of possible escape to the West, and it’s a character study of Barbara, the main character. (I use “character study” loosely, because it’s hard to do a truly satisfying character study of a character that barely speaks.) Personally I find depictions of communist Europe so depressing that unless there is some subversion going on, or someone you care about is escaping, the film usually doesn’t do much for me.

I’m not sorry I saw it. It’s a nicely made little film. It just didn’t leave much of an impression, for whatever reason.