The cinematography, costumes, locations, props, etc of this movie are truly excellent. It's a joy to watch, and Emily Watson's capabilities make the journey even easier. To be honest, on that basis, with a competent script, it's pretty hard to rate this movie below an 8. However, there are many other movies now that cover the same sort of themes and historical period that are beyond excellent. Way back when I was a boy I saw Alan Bates in the 1968 biopic The Fixer. That gave the audience some real punches to the gut. The Way Back (2010) had a real sense of gravity. In Transit (2008) had gravity and punches to the gut, not to mention the terrors of Shindler's List. What I'm trying to say here is that Within The Whirlwind is more of a weak slap and though it has gravity, of course it does, especially the well-presented early part that chronicles the process of Stalin's Purge, the gravity is more or less routine. You see it coming. I think the title here is misleading, a mistake. I realise, having seen the movie, it's about love within a terrible and unjust penal system, but, to me, it sort of conjures up the wickedness and extremes of Siberia. So where are the raging storms? The unrelenting rain? The animal brutality of the guards? As an educational film for high school children, Whirlwind is (probably) a safe bet. But as a piece of theatre that will truly shock sympathies out of an audience, well, I'd have liked to have seen the film-makers aim a little higher.
Review of Within the Whirlwind
