Do you think life in the Soviet Union was as bad as the movies portray it?

There's a phenomenon in Germany they call "Ostalgie", a pun on "East" as in communist East Germany and "Nostalgia". The Russians you talked to could be experiencing this kind of Nostalgia. It was indeed horrible (from what I understand), but at the same time these people probably had their first kiss in that period too. How could you not look back on the past somewhat romantically?