view from within

Rating: 10/10 (24 May 2003)

Being from the country, where the movie story took place, sharing the same cultural background gives probably bias to my comment, but it also touches me deeper. When I was a child Belarus was still in USSR and they used to show many war films on TV. I saw this movie also, but I didn't really like it. There was not much of war for me at that time, lack of skirmish. Ironically, at those times it was not the best movie to show to soviet people. The screen play was written by Ales Adamovich, belarusan writer, who didn't stand a high esteem of soviet government. Some scenes in this movie tell about things which were forbidden by soviet propaganda machine (that actually ukrainians collaborators, not (only) germans burned the people, how partisans were "heating up" - acting in in police uniforme, things about belarusan collaboration, about "samaachova" etc). The WW2 in USSR was something holy, and only one version of it existed, the government one.
So, for movie to exist, and to come to audience, Elem Klimov had to have some "right propaganda" things in there. This is there irony is - now, then Belarus is independent, the scene with shooting Hitler's portrait looks "toooo" propaganda. and now this is also not the best war movie in political point of view. But don't take me wrong, Klimov could actually believe in those things, and there is nothing to condemn here.
And the movie. Unfortunately, there are many things which hardly can be understood if you are not from Belarus. The way Florya Gaishun speaks, faces, houses. and pain, and fear and degradation, and ambiguity. ambiguity people had on occupied territory, ambiguity of times when movie was made. but the movie is not a propaganda of any kind, if one can go above he and she will see - it is on psychology of civil people during the frightful war. Camera and its dynamism in the movie are just great.
A year ago, I saw the movie 2nd time and now on the big screen. After my friend and I went off the cinema, i could not speak, i could just walk. there was nothing to speak about. ___________________
to Daniel Karlsson - common, Klimov did NOT want to be Tarkovsky. this is an absolutely different type of movie, different directoring. this is YOU who sees here shadow of the most "pop on west" soviet director. this is not the tarkovsky type of art, but it should not be of this type to be a genuine thing.