As Putinist forces wage a dirty war against Ukraine, it is hard to avoid the sinking feeling of history repeating itself. However, there is some history he and his separatist lackeys would be advised to remember.
The Soviets did their best to banish any mention of the armed resistance to their Baltic occupation from the media and the history books, but the truth will out. The heroic struggles of Lithuania’s partisans are chronicled in Jonas Ohman, Vincas Sruoginis, and Mark Johnston’s “The Invisible Front.”
The Baltic Republics were caught in a tight spot during World War II, trapped between two ruthless totalitarian systems. When the Soviets reconquered the Baltics at the end of the war, they commenced a brutal crackdown, hoping to beat the occupied nations into submission. It had the opposite effect.
At its height, one out of every twenty Lithuanians was directly involved with the armed partisan resistance, known as the Forest Brothers—a staggeringly high percentage given the risks. Juozas Luksa emerged from the ranks as the movement’s inspirational leader. He was a warrior when necessary, but first and foremost, he was a journalist documenting Soviet atrocities.
Luksa’s memoir of resistance, “The Forest Brothers,” provides much of the film’s descriptive commentary, augmented by the testimony of surviving partisan supporters, as well as some of the occupying Soviet oppressors, at least one of whom has since had a change of heart.
Unfortunately, America plays the role of the absent cavalry in this story, never interceding on behalf of the Baltics as the Forest Brothers hoped and prayed. It was certainly not for a lack of trying on Luksa’s part.
Several times he clandestinely traveled to the West, hoping to spread awareness of Soviet human rights abuses and thereby spur Western action. His efforts were not completely wasted. He met his future wife, Nijole Brazenaite, while on assignment in Paris. Needless to say, their romance would be sadly cut short.
Told through the prism of Luksa’s life, “Invisible” begins as a war story and evolves into a surprisingly tense tale of espionage, with a heartbreaking romance embedded right in its center.
