Description

The churches of Pūre and Zemīte are the locations of important scenes of the film “Kad lietus un vēji sitas logā” shot in 1967.

The film was based on a novel of the same title by Arvīds Grigulis (1906–1989). Its director was Aloizs Brenčs (1929–1998), who entered the adventure genre with this film. The protagonists were played by H. Liepiņš (Ansis Leinasārs), Edgars Pāvuls (Karnītis) and Lilita Ozoliņa (1947) as Velta. This was the silver screen début of Lilita Ozoliņa.

The film revolved around the KGB’s battle with national partisans and spies sent in from abroad. The novel and the film were based on a real event and person. The prototype of Ansis Leinasārs was the radio operator of the Latvian Central Council Rihards Zande, who in August 1960 signed an agreement with Arvīds Grigulis about using his life’s story in the novel. Other heroes of the novel also were based on prototypes, so, for example, Ruta Dumpe played by Māra Zemdega was in fact Valentīne Jaunzeme, but Velta played by Lilita Ozoliņa was in fact Velta Treimane.

The churches of Pūre and Zemīte can be spotted in the tense scenes of the film depicting the “forester brethren’s” resistance against the Soviet power. It turned out that a part of wood carvings removed from the Lestene church in 1966 due to lack of space were stored in the Pūre church. These also suffered during shooting in the Pūre church. After the film was commissioned and the Pūre church was surveyed, repeated correspondence took place between art historians Imants Lancmanis and Arturs Vaidziņš and Riga Film Studio regarding payment for damages caused during the filming, however it was unsuccessful.