The Barber of Siberia is a film directed by Nikita Mikhalkov and starring Julia Ormond, Richard Harris, Oleg Michikov, Alexei Peterlenko, etc., released in Russia on October 30, 1998. This is probably the most famous Russian film in the world film industry after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Of course, "Scorching Sun" as Mikhalkov's famous work in 1994 does not have to grab credit.
The film uses love stories as a burden to show the customs, character and soul of the Russian nation, and shows the political style of the last years of the Russian Empire.
Overall, I think the movie is OK, but it's not shocking enough.
First of all, the cinematic sense of this film is very strong, and some scenes and pictures are particularly like the set of the theater. My appreciation habits determine that I can't like this kind of movie with too strong theater, because the theater style requires the actor's performance to be very exaggerated, shouting, easy to make the audience jump, look at it and suddenly realize that they are watching the performance.
Secondly, I think the film flattens the characters, such as portraying General Radloff as a comical general who is so easy to get into, which is quite untrustworthy, such as the complexity of the heroine as a high-level social flower and the emotional transformation is too hasty and unconvincing, of course, the appearance is also a little low, and it is also an aspect of lack of persuasion.
Third, I think the creator of this film is standing on the elite to look back at the history of Russia's empire, which is a relatively one-sided perspective, he does not show the living conditions of the Russian people at the bottom, does not show the injustice of class and deep social contradictions. It also did not faithfully represent the decline of Tsarist Russia's national strength, and in the late 19th century, Europe carried out industrial revolutions and Tsarist Russia did not keep pace with the times, resulting in its economic strength being far inferior to that of the major European powers in the era of Nicholas II in the early 20th century, although several more successful reforms were implemented during this period (such as Alexander II's reform of serfdom).
Perhaps because of the above reasons, although the movie is tragic, I do not have the feeling of liver and intestines, and it is not as large as the psychological shadow caused by the other film "Autumn Legend" starring the heroine, and I remember that after watching "Autumn Legend", I slowed down in the university dormitory for several days.
I have some sympathy for the male protagonist.
Under sympathy, I found a good reason for myself that the male protagonist, as an officer, might have died on the battlefield, such as the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. So is his ordinary life in Siberia also another kind of lucky life?
Speaking of Mikhalkov, I saw an article about a director who made a documentary about asking his daughter every other year "What is my favorite?" What are you most afraid of? What do you want most? What do you hate the most? Later, it was concatenated into a series of chapters that explained the growth of the individual and the changes in society. To this day, I learned that the director's name was "Mikhalkov". The years are merciless!