PARADISE

Paradise lies in the eye of the beholder. For three distinct people living the dark realities of WWII, their own definition of paradise is uncovered when their lives intersect. Olga, a Russian woman working with the French Resistance, is arrested for harboring Jewish children from Nazi soldiers. Jules, an employee of the Paris police department, holds Olga’s fate in his hands and promises her release in exchange for a piece of her dignity. In a quick turn of events, Olga’s sentence instead leads her to a concentration camp. As she endures long hours of hard labor and starvation in the barracks below, Helmut, the pure-blooded German nobleman in line to be Hitler’s successor, proudly settles into his rank in the office above. When Helmut recognizes Olga from life before the war, his heart softens and he vows to help her escape to a new life. In Andrei Konchalovsky’s PARADISE, will these souls ultimately be rewarded for their sacrifices or punished for their sins? (In Russian, German, French, and Yiddish with subtitles) —A.B. PARADISE was selected as Russia's entry for Best Foreign Language Film for this year's Academy Awards®.