Courting Communism

Letter to Brezhnev

Directed by Chris Bernard

At the Nickelodeon Cinema

YOU'LL NEVER FEEL the same way about a one night stand after you see Letter to Brezhnev, a little-publicized sleeper from the British Isles now in limited release around Boston. The story of two young women from the gray, depressing city of Liverpool where the largest local employer is a chicken processing plant, Letter focuses on Elaine (Alexandra Pigg) and Theresa's (Margie Clark) quest for adventure and escapist relief from their normally drab lives.

Dissatisfied by their lives--one is unemployed and the other spends her days "ripping out chicken guts and stuffing them into little plastic bags"--the two girls dream about the elusive "something better" which, as always but perhaps correctly, centers around some new romantic conquest.

Their adventure begins when, after a somewhat uneventful few hours at the local bar where they scope out the same, boring men whom they have known (and, in Theresa's case slept with) for most of their adult lives, they decide to blow all of Theresa's paycheck on a cab ride into Liverpool proper and a try at one of the fancier bars where the action might pick up a little. They plan to start off with a little larceny to liven things up. By fleecing the cab driver, after some chit-chat through the communication panel, they discover that he is, as Theresa puts it, "one of us." After a liberal tip for their comrade in arms, their resources are a bit depleted. Brassy Theresa gets the bright idea of lifting the wallet of a wealthy Middle Eastern who asks for a slow dance at the first stop of their pub-hopping journey. Little do they suspect that lover boy is going to check his funds while the two are powdering their noses, so a quick get away in his 450 SEL, conveniently parked outside the door, is in order.

Things do pick up at the next stop, however, for across the proverbial crowded and smoke-filled room, Elaine, who shied away from Theresa's for-thright illegality, catches a glimpse of HIM. Blond-haired, blue-eyed, muscular, and shyly smiling back at her, the young man at the other end of the bar would seem to be ideal in every way, except for the CCCP stenciled across the brim of his sailor's cap. A sailor and a Communist to boot--whoever said love was going to be easy?

Well, the Russian white knight, needless to say, comes equipped with someone for Elaine's friend, the Lurch-like Igor. After a slight misunderstanding regarding the difference between blowing them off and excusing themselves to go to the bathroom, the women nab both of the sailors for the night. And what a night it is--Theresa and Igor are energetically bouncing up and down on the bed while next door Elaine and Peter are holding hands, looking out at the stars, and thinking that they might be fallling in love with each other.

Leery of the disillusionment of the hopeless romantic, Elaine tries to emotionally back away from Peter all throughout the next day as she shows him the sights. (Apparently, there is something to see in Liverpool or so Director Bernard would have us believe.) Peter's a sailor. He's probably got a girl in every port. Maybe what she's feeling isn't love at all--just infatuation which will fade as soon as Peter's out of sight. Doubts vaporize as the two intertwine their fingers across the chain link fence on the docks beside Peter's ship, however. What does one say to someone whom he's known for only one day and could conceivably never see again but who might just be his one and only dearest love? According to Peter, the appropriate query is "Will you marry me?" and the appropriate response, according to Elaine, is "Yes."

A good deal of emotional turmoil, some parental opposition, and a sheaf of air mail letters later, Elaine decides that she is going to take Peter up on his offer, irrespective of whether or not the Foreign Office approves of someone defecting in the opposite direction. The media cycle grinds into motion, and lovelorn Elaine is thrown into the midst of it. Why should she want to leave England for a communist country? How can she be certain that Peter isn't already married? Are individuals bigger than nations?

Does love conquer all? The players, the director and the screenwriter would all like us to believe that it does, and by the film's conclusion, you probably will. Letter to Brezhnev won't change your concept of the cinema, poorly shot and spliced as it is, but it's a good hand-holder and thoroughly enjoyable.