Ashes in the Snow

While this is a story that needs to be told, somehow this film does not come together. The lead, Bel Powley, has a wide eyed look that seems to be almost a caricature of innocence. The attraction of the soldier and her mother does not have feeling and he is poorly explained. Some of the problem that the actors had was in the writing. For example nothing in the Bel Powley character showed the leadership as the dying mother declared. She showed innocence, not the clever reading of people that leaders have. Still there were touching moments and a history that should be known.