Movie Profile: THE RIFLEMAN
| Attribute | Details |
| Title | The Rifleman (Original Title: Dvēseļu putenis / International: Blizzard of Souls) |
| Release Date | November 8, 2019 (Latvia) • July 10, 2020 (International) |
| Director | Dzintars Dreibergs |
| Writers | Boris Frumin, Dzintars Dreibergs (Based on the 1934 novel by Aleksandrs Grīns) |
| Producers | Inga Praņevska, Dzintars Dreibergs |
| Genre | War, Drama |
| Runtime | 123 minutes |
| Distributor | Forum Cinemas (Latvia) / Film Movement (US) |
| Lead Cast |
• Oto Brantevics (Artūrs Vanags) • Raimonds Celms (Edgars Vanags) • Mārtiņš Vilsons (Vanags, the Father) • Jēkabs Reinis (Miķelsons) • Gatis Gāga (Konrāds) • Ieva Florence (Mirdza) • Vilis Daudziņš (Colonel Sala) |
| Accolades & Honors |
• Latvian National Film Award (Lielais Kristaps): Won 6 awards including Best Feature Film, Best Director, and Best Cinematography • Academy Awards (2021): Selected as the official Latvian entry for Best International Feature Film |
Trailer
Plot Overview
In 1915, during the height of World War I, 16-year-old farm boy Artūrs Vanags (Oto Brantevics) witnesses his mother shot dead and his home destroyed by invading Imperial German troops in rural Latvia. Driven by grief and a desire to defend his homeland, Artūrs lies about his age and enlists in the newly formed Imperial Russian Army’s 1st Latvian Riflemen Battalion alongside his older brother Edgars and their veteran father.
Trained as a sharp shooter, Artūrs is quickly thrust into brutal trench warfare along the Eastern Front, including frozen winter battlefields, lethal gas attacks, and hand-to-hand combat against German units. As the war drags on and the Russian Empire collapses into the Bolshevik Revolution, the surviving Latvian riflemen realize they are being used as expendable frontline fodder by distant empires.
Facing tragic personal loss on the battlefield, Artūrs must transition from an innocent, romantic boy into a hardened soldier. He joins the fight for Latvia’s ultimate goal: securing independence and establishing a sovereign nation out of the ruins of the war.
