Great love story which is under-rated in IMDB

Rating: 10/10 (10 April 2001)

The rating is only 7.4 at time of this message. This movie definitely deserves a much higher rank.
This is the best, or at least one of the best, movies I've ever watched. The beginning of the movie is not so attention grabbing, though. I had nearly given up watching it before being caught by the plot half an hour into the movie.
One other reason why this movie is under-rated may come from the lack of background information about the revolution in Soviet Union.
Recommendation: please watch it for at least half an hour before taking the videotape out of the VCR, and you will be amazed after the movie is over.