So many themes have been overworked as reminders to us all, that certain events should "never again" happen. While enough can never be said about these tragedies, some have been relatively ignored. The horrible Stalin era has been largely forgotten in our post- Cold War World. EAST WEST vividly illustrates the hell of this 20 plus year regime in a sweeping epic, in my opinion, among the best of all time. The film illustrates what was perhaps the greatest persecution and mass murder of all time: the Stalin purges. Not including the 20 million Soviet World War II dead (for which Stalin, as Hitler's ally the first few years, must take much responsiblity), another estimated 10 to 20 million "subversive" citizens were murdered or died after extreme torture and slave labor in camps. Many, as the returning Soviet emigres from France in EAST WEST, were misled like cattle to the slaughter house. More films about this era should be made, but for now, see this one. Much as he did in his Oscar-winning INDOCHINE, the director takes a simple love story and places it into a historical context that gives its soap opera roots grave urgency, and a grand, epic sweep. EAST WEST is as much a detailed look at life in Stalin's "workers state" of terror as it is a story about the great sacrifices people make for the sake of love. Ultimately, the film is a suspenseful and hugely engrossing drama that asks whether love can survive in the face of murderous political oppression and unbearable exile.