Coming Out of the Ice (1982) Reviews

• Interesting historical account of an American surviving incarceration in the U.S.S.R.

  Tom-2072000-09-17

  In the 1920s Victor Herman left the United States with his parents who went to the U.S.S.R. with other Americans to build an automobile factory there. They were part of an idealistic socialist group who thought that the Soviet Union would be a better place for working class people. Herman had athletic prowess in track and field, and the Soviet authorities wanted him to represent them in world competition. At first he consented, but later demurred when their demands on him became onerous. He asked to leave the country, but of course, back then, departure equaled treason, and they sent him to a remote prison camp. This film depicts the story of his survival. It's a good account of forgotten Americans from a forgotten period.

• A movie about love and freedom

  rodrig582017-07-29

  When I first saw this movie in the 1980s, in communist Romania, a situation similar to that of the film, I liked it very much. Romania was a mini-Siberia in the '80s, when you couldn't find almost anything to eat in the shops, and inside the houses it was cold and dark. Watching it again in 2017, I liked it just as much. It's a powerful movie, not easy to see. It helps you appreciate your life, how to become humble. John Savage, an extraordinary actor, plays a special role. And Francesca Annis and Willie Nelson are very good. If you can be happy in the heaviest and harshest conditions of life, then you are really strong, a real survivor, without worrying about money and fame. And if you are a man alone and you find a woman who really loves you, then you are really happy. But many do not know how to appreciate it.