"The Driver for Vera" is simply excellent cinematography. The pace and intensity of this two-hour film is such that you don't notice passage of time. It's like dozing off and waking up from an intense dream where for a few seconds you don't know who you are or where you are. If a regular Hollywood production is like leisurely afternoon tea with some sweets, this film is like taking shots of espresso every minute for two hours. In the first few seconds the movie grabs your attention, your emotions, your very soul, and holds that grip until the very finale (in my case, it's been about 24 hours since I watched the film and I am still under the grip). The background scenery (Moscow and Sevastopol of the early 1960's) is spectacular and the music is extremely powerful. In the geopolitical background there is the power struggle between the figures of the police, the army, and the special services, a struggle that ensued in the power void after Stalin's death. Career, ambition, love, sex, power, violence, birth and death are a devilish mix in the film's shockingly realistic story line.
