From Russia, For Love

Born in Russia, Canadian director and adoption coordinator Julia Ivanova finds homes for Russian orphans. Shot over the course of three years, From Russia, For Love profiles the stories of two children—Olga and Lara—along with their adoptive parents, Gary and Claire Conrad and Francine and John Neels, respectively. While the Conrads, who have two other adopted children, decide to change Olga's name to Kira to deflect grade-school teasing, Francine Neels, who has five biological children, can't imagine taking away what little Lara retains of her birth family. Both girls share a background of poverty, illness, and abandonment, although—interestingly—neither seems to understand that learning English will be a necessity in British Columbia (Lara is also under the impression that it doesn't snow in Canada). The two have mixed feelings about leaving their orphanage, and Olga's 12-year-old brother, Dimitri, looks especially disappointed to see her go (they have eight other brothers and sisters). When Claire says, “It's too late for him”—the remark seems unintentionally cruel, but she and Gary eventually find a way, through student visas, to bring Dimitri and 16-year-old Sergei to Canada, too. Checking in on the kids months and then years later, Ivanova finds all four speaking English comfortably and adjusting as well as can be expected. The statistics she cites regarding Russian orphans may be grim, with a higher-than-average rate of incarceration and suicide, but this quartet seems likely to beat the odds. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)