Max Irons Fights For Love And His Country In Trailer For 'Bitter Harvest' With Samantha Barks

A heart-wrenching historical drama, “Bitter Harvest,” tells the story of The Holodomor, also known as the “terror-famine” or “Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-33.” The Holodomor was the deliberate starvation of Ukrainians began by the Russian government, under the orders of Joseph Stalin. Beginning in 1930, the Russian government took several million tons of grain from Ukrainian farmers, providing them only a small ration, leading to mass malnutrition and millions of deaths. The film, which was shot on location in Ukraine, aims to bring light to this tragic event that has been somehow forgotten over the years.

Directed and co-written by George Mendeluk, “Bitter Harvest” depicts these events through the eyes of Yuri (Max Irons), a young artist, who joins the resistance against Stalin’s troops in the hopes of saving his family and Natalka (Samantha Barks), the love of his life. Here’s the official synopsis:

Based on one of the most overlooked tragedies of the 20th Century, 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 genocidal policies against Ukraine in the 1930s. As Stalin advances the ambitions of the burgeoning Soviet Union, a young artist named Yuri (Max Irons) battles to survive famine, imprisonment and torture to save his childhood sweetheart Natalka (Samantha Barks) from the “Holodomor,” the death-by-starvation program which ultimately killed millions of Ukrainians. Against this tragic 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.

Co-starring Terence Stamp, Barry Pepper, and Tamer Hassan, “Bitter Harvest” opens on February 24, 2017.
Bitter Harvest