Big Little War

Big Little War (Bolshaya - malaya voyna, 1980) is a historical action film you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Vasili Pascaru. It picks up the last act of the Civil War across southern Ukraine, as the Red Army moves to break the rebel bands loyal to Nestor Makhno.

Mikhail Frunze runs the campaign. His enemy isn't a fixed front but fast cavalry that melts into the villages and strikes from ambush. That contrast gives the film its name: on the staff maps it's a minor mopping-up; for the men chasing Makhno's riders across the steppe it's anything but. The plot leans on reconnaissance, pursuit and cunning more than on head-on clashes.

Shot at the Odessa Film Studio, with Roman Gromadsky, Gennady Saifulin, Yevgeny Lazarev and Emmanuil Vitorgan on screen. Ninety minutes of solid "Eastern" adventure for anyone who likes Soviet films about the 1920s told without gloss. Stream Big Little War (1980) online on iFILM.