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Alexander Nevsky (1938)

Genre : Epic, Historical, War, Drama.
Language : Russian
Country : Soviet Union (USSR)
Cast : Nikolai Cherkasov, Nikolai Okhlopkov, Andrei Abrikosov.
Directed by : Sergei Eisenstein
Run Time : 112 min
Release Date : 1st December, 1938

Synopsis :
“Alexander Nevsky” (Russian: Александр Невский) is a 1938 historical epic drama film directed by Russian master Sergei Eisenstein, made at a time when tensions between the Soviet Union and Germany were high, the film has heavy political overtones and propagandas. ‘Alexander Nevsky’ was the most popular of Eisenstein's three sound films. In 1941 Eisenstein, Pavlenko, Cherkasov and Abrikosov were awarded the Stalin Prize for the film.

This film depicts the attempted invasion of Novgorod in the 13th century by the Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire and their defeat by the Russian people, led by Prince Alexander, known popularly as ‘Alexander Nevsky’.

Plot :
The film opens in a rural setting, with Prince Alexander toiling away in an implausible fashion among the fishermen. "Hack their ships we did nigh to smithereens", they sing, referring to the teenage Alexander's earlier triumph over a Swedish invasion at the River Neva (which lent him the commemorative surname ‘Nevsky’). A Mongol emissary from the Golden Horde appears and offers Alexander a job as commander in his army, but he refuses.

Back in Novgorod, news arrives of the crusading Teutonic knights' capture of nearby city of Pskov with the help of the traitor Tverdilo and brutal massacre of the population (including a scene in which the knights casually drop children into a fire), which adds fuel to Nevsky’s cause.

Prince Alexander is sent for to lead the troops because he’s well known for his bravery and intelligence and for his ability to rally the people. He devises a plan to lure the knights into a fight on the ice, reasoning that their heavy armour will eventually lead them to catastrophe.

In the face of resistance by the boyars and merchants of Novgorod (urged on by the monk Ananias), Nevsky rallies the common people of Novgorod in a decisive Battle of the Ice, on the surface of the frozen Lake Chudskoe on 5th April, 1242.

Running parallel to Nevsky’s story is a subplot involving two soldiers, Vasili Buslai and Gavrilo Oleksich, two famous warriors from Novgorod and friends, who have used the war as the pretence for a wager. Whichever shows the most courage and skill during the Battle on the Ice will win the right to marry Olga Danilovna, a Novgorod maiden whom both of them are courting. After both of them have been seriously wounded, Buslai publicly states that neither he nor Gavrilo was the bravest in battle: that honor goes to Vasilisa, the daughter of a boyar of Pskov killed by the Germans who had joined the Novgorod forces as a front-line soldier; and that after her came Gavrilo. Thus Gavrilo and Olga are united, while Buslai chooses Vasilisa as his bride-to-be (with her unspoken consent)!

“Eisenstein doesn’t get terrifically experimental with this film – it’s pretty straight forward narratively, though there is a lot of visual symbolism. It can be a difficult story to engage with at times because the characters are so thin, but I can see how it would have worked as a rallying piece at the time it was made and especially at the time of its re-release in 1941. The Battle on the Ice is the film’s big set piece and is one of the best and most memorable large scale hand-to-hand combat sequences I’ve ever seen. The story can be a bit plodding as it wades through layers of political commentary, but this battle sequence makes the film worth watching!“

Cast :
■ Prince Aleksandr Nevsky (Nikolai Cherkasov)
■ Vasili Buslaev (Nikolai Okhlopkov)
■ Gavrilo Oleksich (Andrei Abrikosov)
■ Ignat, the Master Armourer (Dmitri Orlov)
■ Pavsha, a Voivode of Pskov (Vasili Novikov)
■ Domash Tverdislavich, a Novgorod Boyar (Nikolai Arsky)
■ Amelfa Timoferevna, Buslay's Mother (Varvara Massalitinova)
■ Olga Danilovna, a Maid of Novgorod (Vera Ivashova)
■ Vasilisa, a Maid of Pskov (Aleksandra Danilova)
■ Hermann Von Balk, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order (Vladimir Yershov)
■ Tverdilo, the Traitor of Pskov (Sergei Blinnikov)
■ Anani, a Monk (Ivan Lagutin)
■ The Archbishop (Lev Fenin)
■ The Black-Hooded Monk (Naum Rogozhin)

Awards :
1. In 1941, Eisenstein, Pavlenko, Cherkasov and Abrikosov were awarded the Stalin Prize for this film.
2. In 1939, it was nominated for the Best Foreign Film in the National Board of Review.

Ratings : IMDB.com = 7.8/10; AllMovie.com = 4.5/5
[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, AllMovie, Criterion, RussiaBlog]

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Bear's Kiss (2002)

Genre : Romance, Fantasy, Fiction, Drama.
Language : English, Italian, Spanish, Russian.
Country : Russia, Germany, Sweden, Spain, France, Italy.
Cast : Rebecka Liljeberg, Sergei Bodrov Jr., Joachim Król.
Directed by : Sergei Bodrov
Run Time : 101 min
Release Date : 13th Sept, 2002 (Italy).

Synopsis :

"Bear's Kiss" is a fantasy tale of a lonely circus girl trapped in the cheap and tawdry world of circus, who falls in love with a shape-shifting mysterious bear. The film has also been distributed under the titles - ‘Il Bacio dell'orso’ (Italy), ‘Le baiser de l'ours’ (France), ‘Der Kuss des Bären’ (Germany), ‘El beso del oso’ (Spain), and ‘Medvezhiy Potseluy’ (Russia).

Plot :

The film tells the story of Lola (Rebecka Liljeberg), a lonely and sullen 14-year-old circus girl, whose mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) and stepfather are circus artists. Apart from Groppo the Clown (Joachim Król), who keeps an eye out for her, Lola's only real companion is her bear Misha (Sergei Bodrov Jr.) whom she raised from cub hood.

Later, Carmen confirms Lola's suspicions that she is not her real mother and abandons her. A year goes by. One day, when she discovers that the bear can transform into a young man, a secret romance between the two ensues. Because of his free-spirited nature, Misha cannot abide living in a cage any longer and begins to roam the streets where he rescues Lola from an attacker. The authorities get involved and they are forced to leave the circus.

The two of them, along with the clown, join a street-performing sideshow, a motley crew of misfits who are led by a man named Lou. When her father, Marco (Maurizio Donadoni), is killed in a tragic car accident, the circus caravan travels to Spain, where several gypsy fortune-tellers explain the mysterious art of shape-shifting and the responsibilities it entails. Lou has plans for the bear and wants to wrestle him for money in front of wagering audiences. When the bear humiliates him in the first match, Lou in frenzy whips him, and then goes on a drunken rampage during which he tries to rape Lola. Misha kills Lou, but is captured by the police. A frantic Lola visits the gypsy woman again, but she tells Lola that Misha will now remain a bear forever because he has killed a man!

With the help of Groppo, Lola manages to free Misha and the two lovers drive across Europe back to Misha's home. It looks like Lola will have to sacrifice her one true love because she knows that in his bear-state he yearns for the freedom of the wild. She begs him to leave her. When he finally does, she hesitates but then chases after him in desperation. Suddenly now, two bears are running together through the endless Siberian woods!

Cast :

■ Lola (Rebecka Liljeberg)

■ Misha (Sergei Bodrov Jr.)

■ Groppo, The Clown (Joachim Król)

■ Carmen, Lola’s Mother (Ariadna Gil)

■ Marco, Lola’s Father (Maurizio Donadoni)

■ Lou (Keith Allen)

■ Margarita (Anne Marie Pisani)

■ Anna (Marcela Musso)

■ Ringmaster (Silvio Orlando)

Ratings : IMDB.com = 5.8/10;  RottenTomatoes.com = 3.3/5; HKFlix.com = 4/5

[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, RottenTomatoes, AllMovie, HKFlix]

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Ballad Of A Soldier (1959)

Genre : War Drama, Romance.
Language : Russian
Country : Soviet Union (USSR)
Cast : Vladimir Ivashov, Zhanna Prokhorenko.
Directed by : Grigori Chukhrai
Run Time : 88 min
Release Date : 1st December, 1959

Synopsis :
“Ballad of a Soldier” (Russian: Ballada O Soldate) is an apolitical Soviet film depicting the humanitarian impulses of its characters to their nature rather than to an adherence to state ideologies. The plot of the film is set during World War II and shows how the Red Army soldier Alyosha tries to make it home during a leave, meeting several people on his way and falling in love with Shura.

Ballad of a Soldier is not primarily a war film. It recounts, within the context of the turmoil of war, various kinds of love - the romantic love of a young couple, the committed love of a married couple, and a mother's love of her child!

Plot :
The film tells the story of a young and naive Russian soldier Alexei Nikolaevich Skvortsov aka ‘Alyosha’ (Vladimir Ivashov) and his journey to home in the midst of World War II. The story starts with the chase of a scared signalman Pvt. Alyosha (19) by two German tanks. In the attempt of self-preservation, Alyosha single-handedly manages to destroy the German tanks and earns a commendation for his bravery. Instead of accepting a medal, he requests the General to grant him a 4-day leave to go home. The kind General awarded him a 6-day leave pass to visit his mother and repair the leaking roof of his village house!

During his journey to home, he encounters the devastation the war has brought on his war-torn country and meets numerous people and uses up much of his valuable leave time through his efforts to help others! The first person he met was a soldier Pvt. Pavlov, who asked Alyosha to meet his wife in route to home and give her two pieces of soap as a gift. At the railway station, Alyosha helps and encourages a veteran soldier Vasya (Yevgeni Urbansky) who, having lost a leg in the war, is afraid to return to his wife, fearing she might reject him!

At the changing station, Alyosha met a venal train guard Gavrilkin (Aleksandr Kuznetsov) willing to grant him free passage in a freight car of a military supply train in exchange for some cans of beef. Riding in the train, he met a young and beautiful girl Shura (Zhanna Prokhorenko) and falls in love with her. The scared girl made innocent Alyosha to believe that she’s on her way to visit her fiancé. So, he tried to help her in any way to reach her destination. On the way, Alyosha met Pavlov’s wife (V. Markova) and found that she has betrayed her husband by marrying other man. He took back the soaps from her, and gives it to old and sick Pavlov’s father (Vladimir Pokrovsky) in the hospital, who longs for his son’s return.

After wasting his most of the leave time in helping others, Alyosha finally manages to arrive home too late. He only has enough time to hug his mother and immediately start on his journey back to his unit, before his 6-day leave expires. He finds his way back to the front but, as told via voiceover, he never returns from the war! At the end, the voiceover narrator says, “He would have been a fine man.... but we remember him just as a soldier - a Russian Soldier!” - emphasizing not his political ideology but his national identity!

Cast :
■ Private Alyosha Skvortsov (Vladimir Ivashov)
■ Shura (Zhanna Prokhorenko)
■ Alyosha’s Mother (Antonina Maksimova)
■ The General (Nikolai Kryuchkov)
■ Vasya (Yevgeni Urbansky)
■ Vasya's Wife (Elza Lezhdey)
■ Gavrilkin -The Train Sentry (Aleksandr Kuznetsov)
■ Zoya (Marina Kremnyova)
■ Liza - Pavlov’s Wife (V. Markova)
■ Old man in Hospital - Pavlov’s Father (Vladimir Pokrovsky)

Awards :
1. It won the Special Jury Prize at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival.
2. It won the Golden Wolf Award for Best Film at the 1960 Bucharest Film Festival.
3. It won the Golden Gate Award for Best Film and Best Director at the 5th San Francisco International Film Festival, 1960.
4. It won the 1960 Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Participation.
5. It won the 1961 BAFTA Award for Best Film - Any Source.
6. It won the Bodil Awards for Best European Film, 1961.
7. It was nominated for the 1961 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
8. It was nominated for the 1960 Hollywood Foreign Press Association Award for Best Foreign Film.

Ratings : IMDB.com = 8.1/10; AllMovie.com = 4/5.
[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, AllMovie, Criterion]

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The Cranes Are Flying (1957)

Genre : Romance, War Drama.
Language : Russian
Country : Soviet Union (USSR)
Cast : Tatyana Samojlova, Aleksey Batalov, Vasili Merkuryev.
Directed by : Mikhail Kalatozov
Run Time : 97 min.
Release Date : 1957

Synopsis :
‘The Cranes Are Flying’ (Russian: Letyat Zhuravli) is a Soviet film about the horrors and consequences of World War II. It depicts the cruelty of war and the damage suffered by the people of Soviet Union.

The film is based on a Soviet family of Fyodor Ivanovich, a doctor and who lives with his son, Boris, and daughter, Irina. His mother and nephew Mark also live with them. The film centres on Boris's girlfriend, Veronika, and her experiences during wartime. She is nicknamed ‘Belka’ (‘Squirrel’).

World War II breaks out, and Soviet people come forward to volunteer in the war with great patriotic fervour. Boris also volunteers to defend his motherland from the enemies, much to Veronika's sadness. He leaves for the war, and is killed, saving a fellow soldier. However, he is listed as missing in action and neither Veronika nor his family know that he has been killed.

The German blitzkrieg then begins, and the family is terrorized by nights of bombing; they take refuge in the subway system underneath the city. During one attack, Veronika lost her parents in their bombarded apartment, and Fyodor Ivanovich invites Veronika to live with his family. Mark, who has been pursuing Veronika from a long time, is put in charge of taking care of Veronika. He is obviously in love with her, but she continually rejects him because she is waiting for Boris to return. However, during one bombing raid, Veronika refuses to go down to the shelter and is raped by Mark. Ashamed Veronika reluctantly agrees to marry Mark, and the rest of the family believes that she has betrayed Boris.

The family is relocated with many other Russians to Siberia in order to escape the German offensive. They live in a temporary community where Fyodor Ivanovich, Irina, and Veronika work in a military hospital. Mark and Veronika are both unhappy in their marriage. When a soldier in the hospital becomes hysterical due to his girl friend’s betrayal, Fyodor implicitly denounces Veronika while cheering him. She become upset and tries to do suicide, but fails. Shortly after that, Fyodor finds out that Mark bribed an official in Fyodor’s name to get exemption. Fyodor suddenly realizes that Mark has not only betrayed Russia, but he has betrayed the whole family and has taken advantage of Veronika. He confronts Mark and kicks him out of the house, while Veronika is allowed to stay and is forgiven by the family for "betraying" Boris.

The soldier who was saved by Boris, comes in search of Boris's family to tell them the news. When Veronika finds out, she refuses to believe it, saying that Boris's friend Stepan will know what happened to him. When the soldiers come back at a victory parade Veronika meets Stepan and she finds out that Boris is indeed dead. Boris's friend Stepan makes a speech during the parade asserting that they will never forget those who died in the war, but peace must be maintained.

Cast :
■ Veronika (Tatyana Samojlova)
■ Boris (Aleksey Batalov)
■ Fyodor Ivanovich (Vasili Merkuryev)
■ Mark (Aleksandr Shvorin )
■ Irina (Svetlana Kharitonova)
■ Volodya (Konstantin Nikitin)
■ Stepan (Valentin Zubkov)
■ Grandmother (Antonina Bogdanova)
■ Tyernov (Boris Kokovkin)
■ Anna Mikhajlovna (Yekaterina Kupriyanova)

Awards :

1. It won the ‘Palme d'Or Award’ at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the second of two Soviet films to win the award. Tatyana Samojlova received Special Mention for this film.
2. It was nominated for ‘Best Film - Any Source’ at the 1958 BAFTA Awards.

Ratings : IMDB.com = 8.0/10; AllMovie.com = 4.5/5
[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, AllMovie, Vobzor]

Gallery :