NOW we're talking - :) This is a great movie - this is what I wanted when I started this crazy enterprise :)
My introduction to Mikhail Kalatozov was the film Soy Cuba, which he shot 4 years after this one but took some of his long visual shots to the next level. There are some great ones in here as well. This is an anti-war film (which as one director pointed out is a bit jarring given our perception of what we thought the Soviet Union was like). If someone asks me what my favorite film is based upon the shots and composition, I'd be very tempted to say Soy Cuba. (With Russian Ark a close second, but the gimmick of one continuous shot does feel a bit strained at times.)
Mikhail was a cinematographer before a director, and so it's resulted in some crazy compositional shots - at times aerobatic and jarring, sometimes soaring and long inspiring shots.
This film is about a young couple in love separated by WWII. It especially focuses on the heroine who has to wait for news about her fiance and process that along with the trauma of a rape and marriage to the beast of a man who did it. There's a lot here to unpack and because I have such an interest in Russia and WWII, it hit all my buttons.
Apparently this came out during a time called the Thaw, which was the restrictions lifted about Soviet Realism after the death of Stalin. As I say, it does have very strong anti-war sentiments which goes against what we THINK we know about Russia, but Russia suffered nearly 35 million dead between it's armed services and civilians in WWII, so if they came out of that cautious about war, it's understandable.
Got a few good special features on this one - absolutely worth a 2nd watching and if you can find Soy Cuba, that one gets extra attention too.
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