The best Vilis Daudziņš’s drama movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Vilis Daudziņš’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Vilis Daudziņš.
Blizzard of Souls
7.2/10
The love story of sixteen-year-old Arturs is interrupted by the First World War. After losing his mother and his home, he finds some consolation in joining the army, because this is the first time national battalions are allowed in the Russian Empire. But war is nothing like Arturs imagined – no glory, no fairness. It is brutal and painful. Arturs is now completely alone as war takes the lives of his father and brother. Also, no progress is made in the promised quick resolution of the war and timely return home. Within the notion that only he alone cares about returning home and that his homeland is just a playground for other nations, Arturs finds strength for the final battle and eventually returns home to start everything from scratch, just like his newly born country.
Defenders of Riga
6.6/10
The film dramatizes November 11, 1919- a crucial date in the battle for Latvian independence. A year after the end of the official hostilities of WWI, a renegade German general and troops remain outside the Latvian capital. Latvian riflemen, most of them inexperienced volunteers, somehow managed to defeat a larger, better-armed force of German and Russian mercenaries.
Monotony
6.6/10
Following an ad in the paper, Ilze leaves her native village to become an actress. She fails the audition, but her pride won't let her return home. Her boyfriend is skeptical about her ambitions, so he comes after her to bring her back home. The plot evolves around their relationship as they pretend and lie to each other trying to end the emotional stand-off.
Bille
7.4/10
A family film based on the book Bille by Vizma Belševica. An extraordinary, lonely yet spiritually strong little girl attempts to comprehend the adult world, which in her eyes is very contradictory, and to prove her own value despite the ignorance and lack of appreciation by her family in late 1930s. Bille tries to find an escape in her vivid imagination.
Alias Loner
7.4/10
Based on true events that took place in the vicinity of Līvāni in 1945 after Soviet re-occupation. Catholic priest Antons Juhņevičs, serving in the Vanagi parish, hid local men on church premises so they could escape conscription into the Red Army. Finding himself in conflict with the ruling power due to his convictions, he was forced to take a radical step.
Dawn
6.6/10
Based on a Soviet propaganda story about Young Pioneer (the Soviet equivalent of a Boy Scout) Morozov, who denounced his father to Stalin’s secret police and was in turn killed by his family. His life exemplified the duty of all good Soviet citizens to become informers, at any expense. In our film, 75 years later, we call him little Janis. He is a Pioneer who lives on the Soviet collective farm “Dawn”. His father is an enemy of the farm (and the Soviet system) and plots against it. Little Janis betrays his father; his father takes revenge upon his son. Who then in this old Soviet tale is good and who is bad? This film reveals that a distorted brain is always dangerous. Even today.
Lelle tētis
Dream Team 1935
7.9/10
Geneva, Switzerland 1935. The first European Basketball Championship is about to take place. Basketball is still an unknown sport in Europe, and the national teams are meeting for the first time. Each wants the honour of being the first champion. Meanwhile in Latvia, coach Baumanis is convinced that he can assemble a team and take it to Geneva. He quickly learns however, that triumph and defeat are also part of the game. Coach Baumanis faces many difficulties, as well as unexpected help from those closest to him.
The Return of Sergeant Lapins
7.1/10
After recovering from an overseas mission, Krists Lapins moves into a quiet neighbourhood in Riga. His hopes for a new, peaceful life are disrupted when an unexpected visitor arrives one night. Krists soon finds himself in a swirl of events involving a mysterious blonde, a wannabe private detective, a bankrupt millionaire, and a rigorous cop. In this witty portrayal of modern Latvian society the absurd meets the comic and nothing is what it seems.
Foaming at the Mouth
7.2/10
After losing his leg, ex-cop Didzis focuses on training his three beloved police dogs. His estranged wife Jana, a doctor at the local sports school, seeks romantic fulfilment with Roberts, a 17-year-old student and a promising swimmer. After a secret randez-vous, Jana hits a rabid wild boar with her car and eventually spreads the virus to Didzis’ dogs. The accident ignites dark suspicion and jealousy in Didzis. Busy with finding and punishing Jana’s secret lover, Didzis overlooks the ever-growing strangeness and aggression in his now infected dogs. Just as the love triangle becomes toxic, the dogs escape and threaten the local town. Facing both personal and professional fiasco, Didzis decides to take matter in his own hands.
