The expression "branchy cranberry" like in "having a nap under a branchy cranberry-plant" is the one used to describe stereotyped Russian things. Fiddler music at a house party in Moscow in 1959, seriously?! "Can I get you a drink?" - this is a Russian party, this is not an American bar, nobody would word it like this! Katya's parents - "dissidents"? The term "dissident' was used in the Soviet Union after Stalin's death (1953), NOT in the 40-s when Katya was 11 - nobody would refer to the victims of Stalin's repressions as dissidents. And the list goes on and on and on. Always makes me wonder why film-makes ignore 'small things' - it is small things that create authenticity - or not.
Review of Despite the Falling Snow
