Best Belarusian drama movies
Get ready to binge. We've found a collection of must-watch drama films from Belarus, now streaming on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, and other top services!
Persian Lessons 2020
Occupied France, 1942. Gilles is arrested by SS soldiers alongside other Jews and sent to a camp in Germany. He narrowly avoids sudden execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but Gilles gets assigned a life-or-death mission: to teach Farsi to Head of Camp Koch, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran once the war is over. Through an ingenious trick, Gilles manages to survive by inventing words of "Farsi" every day and teaching them to Koch.
75Fortress of War 2010
The film covers the heroic defence of the Brest Fortress, which was attacked during the first strike of German invaders on June 22 1941. The story describes the events of the first days of the defence, including the three main resistance zones, headed by the regiment commander, Pyotr Mikhailovich Gavrilov, the commissar Efim Moiseevich Fomin and the head of the 9th frontier outpost, Andrey Mitrofanovich Kizhevatov. Many years later veteran Alexander Akimov again recalls the memories of the time, when he, then a 15 year old Sasha Akimov was deeply in love with the beautiful Anya and suddenly found himself in the middle of the bloody events of war.
75Crystal Swan 2018
Minsk, Belarus, 1996. Velya, an aspiring DJ, wants to move to Chicago to make her dreams come true, but bureaucracy, a phone line and the human condition will put obstacles in her way that will be difficult to avoid.
71Soldier Boy 2019
This is a story about exciting events that occurred in the life of the smallest soldier - the hero of the Great Patriotic War, six-year-old Sergei Aleshkov. He lost all his relatives and got into the army. With a six-year-old boy, they started playing the soldier game in order to preserve his childhood, and he, in order to comply with this honorary title, became a real defender of the Motherland.
68I Won't Come Back 2014
Anya, a young academic raised in an orphanage, is on the cusp of success when she’s accused of drug possession. While in limbo hiding from the police, she hits the road with Kristina, another orphan several years Anya’s junior, in search of her possibly mythical grandmother.
69Task For You 2004
Based on the novel of the same name by Nikolai Cherginets. The film begins in the spring of 1941 and ends with the first months after the liberation of Belarus. In the center of the plot of the film – the story of three brothers Kuprevich. Police Lieutenant Alexei Kuprevich receives an appointment as an operative in one of the districts of Western Belarus. His task – to neutralize the rampant gang there "forest brothers". War begins. Alex and his brother, senior police Lieutenant Peter Kuprevich receive the first combat mission: to destroy the landed settlements under the German assault...
64Spice Boyz 2020
Vasilisa returns to her hometown for the wedding of her school friend Inna. Inna’s groom “Chistiy” with his two friends “Lambada” and “Kolbasa” organize a unplanned bachelor party on the eve of the wedding. Inna and Vasilisa show up unannounced to the party. Based on real events from 2014 in the city of Gomel.
65The Road to Mother 2016
When the Soviets impose new ways of collective farming and permanent settlements on a region of nomadic dwellers, young Ilyas is separated from his mother, Mariam. Through decades of war, mother and son persevere in their efforts to be reunited.
95Luka 2013
Year 1917. Young doctor Valentin Voyno-Yasenetskyj with his wife and four children moved to Tashkent, beset by civil war and intervention. Voyno-Yasenetskyj became head physician in the city hospital. He not only saves hundreds of patients every day, operating under the bullets of the permanent street battles, fighting for his life and life of his beloved wife, dying of TB. In the midst of persecution, he as alone with four children on the outskirts of the former empire, so he decides to become a priest. And since then, he never altered neither scalpel, nor cross, he goes with them through all their hard exiles and arduous life, treating both: body and soul.
100On the Nameless Height 2004
The location is the Belarusian forests, close to the Polish border, during Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944. After a short pause, the Red Army is preparing to advance, but on one segment of the front there are two serious obstacles: an unnamed hill with unknown German strength, and a highly skilled German sniper, who is killing off not only Russian officers, but also all captured German officers before they can be interrogated. Because of this, the local commander, Major Inozemtsev, suspects that the hill is a trap, which the Germans are very eager to keep a secret.
78Kupala 2020
A story about the dramatic fate of the national poet of Belarus Yanka Kupala. The movie reveals the main milestones of the poet’s life and career, coinciding with the most tragic events of the 20th century.
90Franz + Polina 2006
The movie tells the story of Franz, a Waffen-SS soldier who deserts, and Polina, a Belarusian woman whose village is razed and people massacred.
68The Date 2024
The first-ever independent Belarusian film featuring a famous Belarusian rap band. The users of dating website - a pianist Michael and a physicist Olesya - meet in a cafe. They have a fight. Later it turns out that they are the spouses who participate in an experiment of the psychologist Vera, Olesya's sister. It doesn’t help the couple to reveal their secrets to each other.
80The Role 2013
The Role is about a brilliant actor in revolutionary Russia who takes on the greatest role of his life - the role of another man. Influenced by the ideas of symbolism and the Silver Age, he decides to slip into the life of his doppelganger – a revolutionary leader in the new Soviet Russia. First intrigued, then obsessed, he flings himself into the role and lives it to the hilt… even when the play of the life he is writing heads towards a tragic finale. Based on true incidents in the lives of Russia’s symbolists, this gripping film explores how far one man will go for the role of a lifetime.
611986 2019
Elena is a student in Minsk. She is having an intense but self-destructive love affair with Viktor. When Elena's father goes to prison she has to take charge of his business dealings to help him. She drives repeatedly into the restricted zone at Chernobyl, behind the wheel of a truck, in order to smuggle contaminated steel. The conflicts with Viktor escalate, and Elena is increasingly captivated by the zone's deceptive beauty...
61II 2019
Nastya, Sasha and Kristina are 16 years old. They study together at a school in a Belarusian town and live ordinary teenager lives, with the usual problems and dreams. Nastya wants a better life. Her dream is to study in Poland. Several times a week she goes to a private Polish language tutor. On these trips she is accompanied by her friend Sasha. The boy is constantly bullied by his schoolmates, who think he is gay. As for Kristina, she doesn’t plan on studying and is mostly interested in dating her new boyfriend. The school follows a severe law of rules and discipline that hasn’t changed much since Soviet times. The only person who stands out is a young English teacher. One day everything changes. A shocking event brings out fears, prejudice and hatred of those who are different.
56Enemies 2007
Belarus, summer 1942. The war has moved on, far off to the east. The life of a small town where the German authorities of the region have set themselves up is getting back to "normal". The Germans study Russian, flirt with the local girls, the women wash their clothes and feed them. They have to carry on somehow... But suddenly the teenage son of the film's heroine decides to run away to the partisans and blows up a German train so that they could accept him. He gets caught and the Germans have to execute him in order "to teach others a lesson". That's the order and it can't be disobeyed. The Germans know that this execution will bring an end to their peaceful lives. The local commandant understands this better than anyone as he is already involved in a close relationship with the boy's mother. But he can't ignore an order from his commanders...
57Ivan & Abraham 1993
In 1930s Poland Christian boy Ivan goes to live with a Jewish family to learn a trade. He becomes friends with Abraham, the son of the family. However, anti-Semitism is rife in their environment, and they flee to escape an upcoming conflict. Journeying together, they demonstrate their inseparability.
46The Code of Cain 2015
World renowned journalist Sara Ogden is traversing the world in pursuit of carriers of a fatally dangerous "Stamp of Cain" in order to prevent seemingly unrelated events such as mass murders, turmoil, revolutions and chaos. She doesn't even suspect how close she is to the edge of the abyss, when in her search she ends up in Belarus to meet face to face with the one, whom she has been searching for her entire life.
50Cure for Vera 2021
Father Michael has recently been appointed to the parish and is happy together with his wife Vera. But soon trouble comes to his house - his beloved wife falls ill. Doctors offer a drug, the purchase of which requires a significant amount of money. To save his wife, Mikhail gets a job as a truck driver - he has long business trips ahead of him. On the way, he will face many trials and fateful meetings with a variety of people.
50I Am Tired Of Predicting All the Oscars 2020
Over the past year, I've become a star in the sphere of Oscar foretelling. But it didn't make me happier.
50Love in Russian 3: Governor 1999
Former farmer V.P. Mukhin became governor. His enemies are trying to prevent him from signing an agreement with Belarus on the construction of a bridge. He is given 7 days to think about it. Alone and unarmed, the old man goes to a meeting with representatives of the criminal world...
42I Remember 2005
The artist Anatoly Buslov has been living in Minsk for many years, but he still cannot escape the oppressive memories of the Chernobyl tragedy. His whole family, living then in a small village in the Gomel region, suffered greatly from radiation. Buslov goes to the place where he grew up, and with surprise and joy finds that the inhabitants of his native village have not fallen in spirit. This gives the artist strength, and he decides to paint the local church.
40Son for Father... 1995
A successful Moscow doctor, who has his own clinic, comes to his father in Minsk. His father was once one of the leading doctors of the city, and now he turned out to be unnecessary and forgotten. His son helps him start a new business. But it turns out that the father's worst enemy is his most reliable girlfriend.
35To Leave and to Not Return 1992
A tragic story of love and betrayal during WWII.
35Babiy Yar 2003
Autumn 1941. The Soviet army flees Kyiv, chaos reigns, soldiers attempt to trade their uniforms for civilian clothes in order to escape unnoticed. The war and pending capture of Kyiv by the Germans is the only topic of discussion. Everyone has heard of the horrible things that have happened in other areas, where Jews were brutally and inhumanely murdered. Indecision and despair spread like wildfire among the population. As the German army marches in, fear and horror take over.
30Ball Gown 2003
The girl Vika and her sick mother live in their apartment, which is claimed by her mother's sister, Klaudia. One day Mila, Klaudia's daughter, moves in with Vika and her mother, who tries to establish her own rules in the house. Vika is quietly but stubbornly fighting against the new order. At a party hosted by Mila, a boy appears who becomes Vika's loyal friend.
30Give Me the Moonlight 2001
The popular TV journalist Sergei Kupriyanov recently became the country's main television personality and began to make his own program. But success, money, and fame cannot fill the void in a marriage relationship. Sergei's wife Irina lacks his love and warmth, and Sergei himself is looking for novelty, which he finds in the arms of his charming colleague Lena when Irina leaves for St. Petersburg.
20From Hell to Hell 1997
Focuses on the lives of two married Polish couples (one Jewish, one Catholic) and the personal and social devastation wrought by the Holocaust and its aftermath.
20Burn 1998
Prosecutor Azhogin, who sent many criminals to prison, by the will of fate himself ends up behind bars. He is placed in a cell with juvenile lawbreakers. The situation is far from the worst one. So thinks the Azhogin, who eventually becomes a true friend and mentor of his fourteen-year-old inmates...
20Birds Without Nests 1996
A biography of the famous Belarus poetess Larisa Antonovna Geniyush.
20Zorka Venus 2000
The story of a young Oksana who became addicted to drugs, the story of her sister Pavla and neighbor Vasily - children who love Oksana and are ready to sacrifice everything to save her. The only thing they are able to counteract evil is their kindness and compassion, their masculinity and their desire to help a girl in trouble...
20A Kid's Flick 2021
Coming from the heart of the Belarusian Rebellion, an intimate portrait of a young woman leading a double life. When her regular self enters emotional turmoil amid self-isolation, her seifuku-wearing magical witch alter ego is keeping the fighting spirit ablaze.
20Sketch on the Monitor 2001
Beautiful stories end with a wedding, and the ugly ones begin after it. At least, this is the opinion of a young writer, who went to a wedding celebration and learned three stories there: about a lonely physicist, about a doctor trying to start a new life, and about a policeman who fears his own wife more than someone else's bullet.
20Running From Death 1997
In the house of goldmaker Tikhon Kondratievich Molokov, carnival is celebrated noisily, on a grand scale, with gypsies. Everyone drank pretty, and when the mayor tried to “seduce” the owner’s daughter Anisya, the girl’s father broke his nose. Frightened by the consequences of this incident, Tikhon Kondratievich decided to flee the city.
20Girl Seeks Father 1959
A girl searches for her father while beeing chased by Nazis.
10A Silhouette in the Window Across the Street 1993
The hero of the film witnesses the suicide of his double. Trying to find out the reasons for this act, the hero finds himself in another world that exists very close, but hitherto unknown to him: the world of other people, views and values.
10COOL (News from Belarus) 2023
In this cinematic zine, directors scattered all over the world adapt to screen hilarious and poignant Belarusian news stories. Featuring phone thieves, TikTok storks, the tiniest castle in the world, and victims of the depression epidemic.
10Summer of '89 2022
It's 1989, the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. Five 17-year-old secondary school graduates go on a camping trip, which comes as a test of their character and emotional maturity on the threshold of adult life.
10Nobleman Zavalnia 1994
A kind nobleman named Zavalnya lives in the Polotsk region. His estate stands at a crossroads, so he always has many guests in his house. And everyone knows that Pan Zavalnya loves fantastic stories more than anything else. Therefore, every guest tries to tell some incredible tale...
10Epilogue 1994
Based on the works of Ivan Shamyakin. The heroes of the film are representatives of the creative intelligentsia. Yesterday, their works were considered a national treasure, but now they are no longer needed. The famous writer Ivan Andreevich is forced to earn a living by selling his own books with autographs. More fortunate was his friend, the famous artist Mikhail Antonovich. All his paintings were bought by a western collector. But the banquet arranged by the artist on this occasion turned out to be completely depressing...
10Identification 1991
The hero of the film consciously goes to extreme actions and analysis of the psychological process, where subconscious pictures of visions and discoveries give grounds for real fears for the future of humanity. The semantic and pictorial fabric of the film develops against the background of deep retrospectives about the emergence of Christianity. The film was shot in 1991 by actor Nikolai Kochegarov in Minsk.
10The Devil's Puppets 1993
A young Frenchman receives a royal award for his scientific discovery. The new laureate agrees to become a client of an elite bank, which stores the “future offsprings” of many great people. Upon learning of this, the Frenchman’s bride, the daughter of a Greek millionaire, decides to destroy this bank. She cannot live with the fact that anyone can now have a child from her simple-minded husband. To implement her plan, she contacts the monastery under the guise of sister Teresa, a famous cracker of safes. The third accomplice is a Russian champion in skydiving. Later they are joined by a Japanese karateka and an Italian prostitute.
10The Skurlatai Conspiracy 1993
After being wounded in Afghanistan, Alexey returned home. While he was at war, his mother married an official of the highest state authority. Having become a casual witness to the preparation of a coup d'etat, Alexey decides to join someone else's game...
10Landscape With Three Bathers 1995
A famous director is making a film. The film is about a woman, about intimate desires, about sex, about what is not customary to say out loud... Uninhibited heroines of the picture, unexpected love for the most attractive of them, desires and the impossibility of the possible...
10On Black Slash-and-Burn Fields 1995
A group of Belarusian anti-Soviet insurgents from the failed Slutsk Defence Action wanders through forests, fleeing the from the surrounding Bolshevik army. To escape captivity or death in battle with a subsequent identification of their bodies and retaliation against their families, the insurgents decide to commit group suicide in a place hidden from the Bolsheviks.
10Across the Cemetery 1965
On his way to conquer Moscow, Hitler first had to occupy Belorussia and Ukraine, which is why it's no wonder that a large and important segment of Soviet partisan cinema stems from these two Soviet republics as a result. In Belorussia, the foremost poet laureate assigned to commemorate the horrors and celebrate the glories of the Great Patriotic War was People's Artist of the USSR Viktor Turov. His dedication to the genre was deeply personal. Turov, born in 1936, spent his childhood in a German concentration camp along with his mother and sister, while his father, a partisan, died in battle. Turov's righteous anger, passionate call-to-arms, and simultaneous embrace of humanism as parallel forces of salvation are therefore not a result of any ideology, but rather deeply felt moral imperatives, already forming the driving force for his first feature Cherez kladbishche.
10White Lake 1992
A story about two homeless teenagers who have a dream - to visit a beautiful White Lake.
10The Black Stork 1993
The plot is based on a story about the difficult life in a forgotten village that suffered from the Chernobyl accident. But people work, joke, live without fear, hope and wait. Yanka Kaganets, a conscientious man that loves his land, is one of them. He knows that for him and for his beloved Mary, there will come a spiritual balance one day...
10...I Will Repay 1993
The film focuses on the relationship between Casimir and the monk Justin. If the former is looking for answers to the questions of existence, the latter is sure that he has already comprehended all the mysteries. Ambitious and domineering, Justin believes that people should be kept in constant fear. Kazimir, on the other hand, strives for freedom of the spirit and comes to the conclusion that people pray to the wrong God and are therefore unhappy. These antipodes value each other in their own way. Justin, sending Casimir to the stake, loses the only person close to him. In his last moments, Kazimir does not hate Justin.
10Maria, My Soul 1995
Parable about lonely old peasant, living in radiation area after catastrophe in Chernobyl.
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