Utterly Alone

Vaitkus’s war film paints a poignant portrait of Lithuania’s ten-year struggle against Soviet occupation and casts new light on folk hero Juozas Lukša-Daumantas, the legendary partisan who sought to bring Lithuania’s plight to the West. There are thousands of families of the same destiny in Lithuania as Lukša’s. Two of Juozas’ brothers were killed when they were fighting in the underground, his other two brothers were exiled to Siberia and his father was broken down by the loss of his sons. The film pays tribute to the courage and fortitude of Daumantas and his fellow fighters as they battle valiantly against the might of Stalin’s empire. Shot in atmospheric black-and-white, Utterly Alone has a documentary feel that only serves to bolster its starkness and the hopelessness of the partisans’ cause.