World War II films tell touching stories

Source: Global Times

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Russia's victory in the Great Patriotic War (part of World War II, soviet war against German fascism, 1941-1945), which affected almost all aspects of Russian culture, literature, art and music. Of course, movies are no exception, and many of them have become classics of Russian war movies.

"Inspection on the Road"

The screenplay is based on director Aleksey German's father's novel Happy New Year Action. The novel is about a collaborator who joins the Soviet guerrillas for his sins. The story takes place in Pskov Oblast, which was occupied by Nazi Germany in December 1942. A guerrilla force was active in the rear of the German army, led by ivan Lokotkov, a former village police officer. Captured by guerrilla fighters, Alexander Lazarev, who had been captured by the Germans and who had volunteered to join the German army, said that if everyone believed in him, he would use his blood to redeem the crimes of betraying the motherland. The guerrilla command decided to take the plunge into seizing food trains at railway stations controlled by Nazi Germany, and only Lazarev, known to the railway guards, could help with the operation. This action became the final test for this man who was willing to do anything to defend his honor.

Initially considered by the National Film Commission to be a heroic propaganda for the people's resistance to the enemy during the Great Patriotic War, the film was not released until 1985, and the filmmakers won several film festival awards and Soviet State Awards.

Ivan's Childhood

Andrey Tarkovskiy's first feature film was based on Vladimir Bogomolov's novel Ivan. The protagonist is Ivan, who became a scout at the age of 12. The battle took the little boy's mother and sister, who were shot and killed. He hated the Nazis, desperate for revenge, and could only see his lost childhood in his dreams. Later, Tarkovsky said: "I did not want to analyze the process itself in the film 'Ivan's Childhood', only the state of the people affected by the war. If a person collapses, it is against logical development, especially when it comes to the psychology of children. ”

Jean-Paul Sartre, the founder and writer and philosopher of French existentialism, attended the Moscow premiere of the film Ivan's Childhood, which was highly appreciated by the famous director Ingmar Bergman. The film made Tarkovsky famous worldwide and won awards at several international film festivals, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

"See for Yourself"

Elem Klimov's film, set in two episodes, is a war-themed film co-produced by the Belarusian Film Studio and the Moscow Film Studio based on the scripts of Ales Adamovich and Klimov.

The story takes place in Belarus in 1943. The protagonist is Friola, a Belarusian boy who joined the guerrillas. Freora was devastated to learn that her mother and a young twin sister had been killed, believing that the reason for her relatives' tragic death was due to her participation in the guerrillas, so she decided to commit suicide, but was saved by the residents. Later, Friola witnessed the terror of Nazi Germany, and in two days changed from a cheerful teenager to a white-haired old man. The film lasted 8 years, during which director Erem Klimov studied a large number of historical accounts and memoirs of the participants in the event in great detail, and finally made this film, and the horrific war scenes shocked the unprepared audience.

"They Fight for the Motherland"

The film, directed by Academy Award winner Sergey Bondarchuk, is based on a novel by Nobel Prize winner Mikhail Sholokhov. The story takes place in July 1942, when many soldiers were killed in battle and the Soviet infantry regiment retreated to Stalingrad (now Volgograd). During the break, Peter Lopasin, a soldier who gives the impression of being optimistic and joking, goes to a nearby village to find salt and boil freshly crawns in buckets. Lopasin, who thought he was talkative and charismatic, made a plea to an old Cossack woman but was scorned because the locals resigned themselves to their fate after the soldiers withdrew. Soldiers in Sergei Bondalchuk's films are not warriors, but ordinary people with flesh and blood. They also have fears, anxieties, outlooks on life, and dreams. For Vasily Shukshin, a famous Soviet writer who died during filming, the role in the film became the last of his life. The actor transfers this emotional and physical stress to the protagonist, Peter Lopasin, in the last days of his life. In November 2016, the film's themed sculptures were unveiled next to the Russian Ministry of Defense building in Moscow.

This article is published in the Global Times "Russia Perspective" special issue, the content is provided by the "Russian newspaper".