I really like this movie. It's hard, it's cruel, but it is absolutely realistic!
The film starts in some Russian province in some Soviet housing suburb. In the houses only the poorest people live as does the family of Lilya.
So when...
[+] Read Full Review

I really like this movie. It's hard, it's cruel, but it is absolutely realistic!
The film starts in some Russian province in some Soviet housing suburb. In the houses only the poorest people live as does the family of Lilya.
So when her mother leaves to search for a better future in the United States, Lilya is alone. After the shock the parties start and the worries for money. What does a minor girl do to survive without any money in a city with no work? Soon prostitution is the only solution and with it money the party goes on - along with the drugs.
Then she runs into her new boyfriend - she's the poor kind, so the super cool, sweet guy. She falls in love right away and soon trusts him completely. Together they live for one dream: a better live in the European Union.
He promises her a job along with a better live in Sweden and she is so happy about that.
She hopes to leave her hell behind her, but she lands in something worse than she ever imagined. She lands in the real hell. This time she is forced to prostitution and is beaten up whenever she doesn't listen to her new pimp.

The story is the same we read about every day or all few days in the newspaper. The stories of all these girls forced to prostitution in Western Europe.
The film is so good, because it is so realistic. The film shows us a story that could be absolutely realistic - a story that could happen or even happens every single day. The film doesn't have a happy end or anything. It is cruel from the first moment till the very last. The film doesn't care about anything, it just wants to show the truth. And it succeeds completely.
Lukas Moodysson the writer and director doesn't speak a word of Russian, the main actress only speaks Russian. They barely used a translator, they just used signs or didn't communicate at all. The result of everything is even more amazing.
The soundtrack to the film is perfect as well. The film uses some Russian techno and some German hard-rock - t.A.T.u. and Rammstein. Rammstein song "Mein Herz brennt" - translated "my heart is burning", while the desperate Lilya just runs away, desperate, given up all hope - and then jumps of the bridge.
All used songs are or were very poplar or successful in Russia - something that makes this film even more "real".

In the end of the movie, you just can't let go anymore. When I watch the movie, I sit there for some minutes and can't move anymore. You even could cry. The movie is so cruel, but everything is so realistic, so you just feel sick. The story and our real world start to disgust you. It's hard to let go.