Bitter Harvest

1

Across the ages it has

been called many things:

The borderland,

the wild fields,

the bread basket of Europe.

But since I was a boy,

Ukraine was simply 'home'.

Even as we dreamed of

freedom from the Russian tsar,

life went on as it always had.

Moving to the rhythm of the seasons,

waxing and waning in the eternal

cycle of seed, plough and reaping.

A life of hard work and small pleasures.

My name is Yuri Kachaniuk.

The son of Yarus/av Kachaniuk.

And the grandson of the

famous warrior Ivan Kachaniuk.

My Ukraine was a world where legends lived.

And anything was possible.

Yuri!

Before I grew up and /earned,

that dragons were real,

and evil roamed the world,

I fell in love.

From the moment I saw her,

I could think of nothing else.

I dreamed of

growing up to many her,

of loving her forever.

As the Bo/shevik revolution

raged its way towards us,

I could think only of Nata/ka.

This is the one that's bewitched you?

You see this bell?

It used to warn the village when the

Tartar hordes invaded, tried to conquer us,

take away our freedom.

Like the tsar did?

Yes.

They can never break your spirit.

No one!

No one can ever take away your freedom!

You remember that!

Yuri, my son.

You try!

They've killed the tsar.

- The Bolsheviks?

- In Yekaterinburg!

Now Ukraine can be free.

The revolutionaries have killed the tsar.

Give him back the sabre.

He needs to learn how

to fight for our country,

grow up a free man.

He's different.

The death of the tsar brought a few

glorious years of independence to Ukraine.

But it was soon crushed by the Soviets.

The people were forced to

agree to a style of communism

that was demanded by

the Soviet leader, Lenin.

Again? It's a new age, Yuri!

It's our duty to the

state to inform and influence,

not indulge in selfish desires.

He's right! Artists are flocking to Kiev.

Come with us!

I can't leave.

Yes... 'cause you're in love.

Ask her to marry you and

she can come with us, too.

- Ask her!

- Yeah, I have... many times!

And?

And she says that I don't know

what I'm getting myself into.

Then you need to woo her.

Write her a poem.

- I'm no poet.

- Sing her a love song.

Me? Sing?

Well, then, ask her to sit for you

and do a real portrait,

instead of these fanciful doodles.

Let me paint you!

Why?

Because you're beautiful.

Where would you like to paint me?

In the forest, where we

used t0 play as children.

- Oh, I see.

- I will paint you as a rusalka.

Frolicking by

the water... naked.

Natalka! Please, let me paint you.

We said woo her!

Is that it?

Natalka, come with us.

Come to Kiev.

- Leave the village?

- Yes.

I have an uncle, Josef,

and he can get Yuri a job at the factory.

You must come.

That's the future, Natalka.

So, what made you change your mind?

You seemed so desperate.

Well, you are here.

That's all that matters.

Don't make more of

this than what it is.

Of course not.

- I just need you to understand-

- I don't care.

What difference does it make to me

whether your parents are married or not.

You think you don't,

but you will!

You don't understand what it's

like to not be accepted by others,

judged by your neighbours.

Why seek that trouble if you have a choice?

Choice?

- You think I have a choice?

- No! Don't start!

No, I haven't had a choice about

how I felt since the moment I saw you.

Do you understand the real world?

Yes I do!

We can face it together.

Tonight at the festival when

you ask the gods... you'll see!

We belong together.

Will I ever marry'?

You shouldn't love me.

I only bring you misfortune.

Oh, I have been a

fool for lesser things.

Don't run away from me, Natalka.

Marry me!

But, Comrade Stalin, Comrade

Lenin tried to collectivise.

He targeted the intelligentsia,

the church, the peasants.

The Ukrainians rebelled.

- They flourished!

- Lenin was too lenient.

Syphilis had softened his brain.

Ukraine must be taught to bow to our will.

Without its huge mineral

wealth and vast harvests of grain,

Russia cannot exist.

So, Koba, how do you

propose we proceed?

We implement Lenin's plan,

but without mercy.

God bless you.

Finish your prayer, priest.

We need to talk.

Tell me:
Where is the

churches gold and silver?

You think these peasants need all these

material objects to worship their god?

And what object of value hung there?

Where is the icon?

- Dimitri!

- Sir!

I will return.

In the meantime...

I suggest you pray to your god.

Not that it'll do you any good.

Take this!

They're coming.

- The Bolsheviks?

- Yes.

- Sound the alarm!

- Let me come with you.

- Do as your grandfather says.

- GO, Yuri, go!

Yuri, raise the alarm. GO!

I am Commissar Sergei Koltsov.

You are Boyko?

I see, Boyko, you own a horse...

a cow...

land.

Do you hire help to manage the land?

Then you are kulak.

A privileged class,

an enemy of the state.

Bastards! Blo0d-sucking bastards.

I am a poor peasant.

That's for the state to decide.

If you cooperate, you'll be

allowed t0 live in the cooperative.

You mean on my own land?

If you don't,

you'll either be jailed...

or shot.

When will the state decide?

It already has.

You leave at sundown.

If not, you'll be arrested

for trespassing on state land.

What do you want with this man'?

He's an enemy of the state.

An enemy?

That's nonsense.

Brother, you and your family

are welcome to stay with us.

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