So plans actually worked out and we did indeed watch this movie tonight. Now I'm really tired though and I'm not sure how much I'll be able to write or how coherent it will all be. But I'll try.
I first saw this movie a few semesters ago in a Russian Cinema course I took. It was one of my favorites from that class. I really enjoy Kalatozov, his movies are beautiful. He works with the same cinematographer on this one as he does on I Am Cuba, another excellent film. The cinematography is amazing. One of my favorite sequences is the part in the woods with Boris where the trees are spinning and then the spinning shot of the stairs is super-imposed and the whole dream sequence. I found it to be really moving and sad. The spinning did the whole showing the world out of control thing and the dream was really poignant.
I feel so bad for Veronica. Her character goes through so much. I want to cry for her at least four times during the movie. So much is out of her control and there is so little she can do. But she never gives up hope that Boris will come back to her and even though everyone believes she has betrayed him, she never does.
The ending is so Soviet it's wonderful. Hehe. That whole speach and her reaction. Your personal suffering doesn't matter, it's all for the greater good and war is bad. The first time I saw it, the end kind of threw me off but when you think about the social context of the film it makes sense. And as far as Soviet propaganda in Russian Cinema goes, you're hard pressed to find a movie from that time period without it.
I think it's a really interesting, extremely well done film. It is Russian so expect something depressing, but that probably went without saying. I love this stuff.
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