Pola Beck adapts Olga Grjasnowa's novel Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt into a drama about Mascha, a Jewish migrant struggling with loss and trauma. Language, cultural identity and the search for belonging shape her life without supplying a simple answer to where she feels at home.
Mascha's family fled the conflict in Azerbaijan for Germany. When her partner Elias dies suddenly, she enters a profound personal crisis and goes to Israel in search of another beginning. The film connects migration with grief rather than treating them as separate parts of her identity.
Aylin Tezel gives an impressive performance. She makes Mascha's internal divisions palpable, expressing strength and vulnerability without allowing either to erase the other. The emotional depth of her work carries the film, supported by performers including Sohel Altan Gol.
Beck handles the personal journey sensitively. Juan Sarmiento's camera gives the contrasting settings, from Germany to Israel, an emotional dimension. Dense, frequently melancholy images reflect the protagonist's divided inner world.
Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt is a moving film about identity, loss and the difficulty of finding a place in a changing world. Beck approaches a sensitive subject with visual refinement and emotional depth. The film offers no easy answers, but asks the audience to reflect on the intersecting pressures of migration and trauma.