Lilya-4-ever review

 Number 402 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Russian tragedy 'Lilya-4-ever.'

Lilya Michailova (Oksana Akinshina) is a sixteen-year-old young woman living in a Communist-era Russian town. When her mother unexpectedly abandons her for a new life and man in the USA, Lilya is lost. She befriends the equally lost and younger Volodya (Artyom Bogucharsky) but it looks like that Lilya's life will improve when she begins a relationship with the mysterious Andrei (Pavel Ponomaryov.) He encourages her to go to Sweden with him, in the promise of a new life together, but upon arrival, she is trafficked into sexual slavery.

Lilya-4-ever has been compared to Lars Von Trier's Dogme 43 movement. The comparisons are plain to see form the tight, claustrophobic camerawork, the lost, naive female characters and the brutally realistic tone. Just like Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark and Breaking the Waves, Lilya-4-ever is a powerful if deeply upsetting film. And its realism is what made it so powerful. Lilya's story is one that undoubtedly happens to so many women everywhere. And it does, as this was based on the tragic true story of Dangoule Rasalaite

Oksana was great as the innocent Lilya - somebody so desperate to escape her awful life that she ignores all the red flags about Andrei that even the far younger Voldymyr can recognise. Lilya is nothing more than a victim, but Oksana played her with a lot of will and determination. She's more than prepared to fight back than necessary.

The best part of the film was her relationship with the younger Voldymyr. Similar to Lilya, he comes from a broken home with an alcoholic father who constantly beats him. He and Lilya form a touching big sister/little brother relationship. She scrapes together whatever money she can get to buy him a basketball, which he carries everywhere with him. Even when his spiteful father punctures it, Volymyr still carries the half-inflated ball. This was just so sad and really highlighted Voldymyr's innocence. Like Lilya, he desperately clings to any escape from his awful life.

*Spoilers*

Voldymyr sees Lilya going to Sweden as a complete betrayal. She is going to a better life leaving him alone and friendless. Once she leaves, he commit suicide. This was all predictably tragic. Yet he continues to appear as an angel and hallucination in Lilya's mind. Complete with angel wings. Okay, I get him being an angel. The kid is so innocent that he wouldn't even hurt a fly. It also makes complete sense that Lilya would imagine her only friend at the more traumatic moments of her life. But actually giving Voldymyr angel wings felt like heavy-handed imagery.

Another criticism would be the film's pacing. In its efforts to dive into the storyline, it skipped over some important set-up. it wasn't made clear why Lilya's mother was so ready to abandon her daughter. Instead we're given hints and snippets. Although, I talked about realism earlier, and this is certainly a realistic thing to happen. Sometimes people, even parents, can walk out of your life with no exploration. it might not be satisfying to watch, but it's painfully true.

As is the horrific sexual treatment that Lilya experiences upon her sexual trafficking. Being forced into prostitution, we bear witness to Lilya's POV, as she has sex with a plethora of creepy scumbags. But these POV shots acted as a mirror to Lilya's awful situation. Just like her, the audience was trapped with no escape.

Finally, I didn't like the film's soundtrack. It was a weird mixture of Eurodance and German industrial rock. Rammstein's Mein Herz Brennt plays during the film's climatic sequence. It felt incredibly out of place. I know that Rammstein was popular in Russia at the time, but I think something softer might have been appropriate.

Nevertheless, Lilya-4-ever was a devastating film that perfectly encapsulated the phrase: all children deserve parents, but not all parents deserve children.