When the award was announced, a Russian bear of a man, middle-aged and mustachioed, tossed a young girl over his shoulder and strode triumphantly to the podium. That Oscar night image of father and daughter was subsequently featured in the film's advertisements, and once you have seen Burnt by the Sun you will recognize that there could have been no more appropriate gesture. In the course of one long summer day, the unsuspecting Kotov will lose everything he holds dear, including his Socialist Revolution and his beloved daughter. This is the first time Mikhalkov has taken a major role in one of his own films. And Mikhalkov's co-star and the inspiration for the film is his daughter Nadia, whom he tossed over his shoulder that Oscar night, just as he does at several critical moments in the film.
Children grow quickly and lose the tenderness, the simplicity, and the charm their youth carries.
How true, and what also often gets lost is that innocent but sensual love between father and daughter. It is almost as if Mikhalkov made this film to memorialize those ephemeral years of absolute love when father and daughter each believe the other can do no wrong . When they stood at the podium that Oscar night, both wreathed in smiles, Mikhalkov acknowledged that his daughter had brought him luck. But this time his characters have psychological complexity and his screenplay gives every heightened gesture a sustaining density of meanings. Mikhalkov's image of the father and daughter deserves a better place in Western iconography.