Dzhek Vosmyorkin, amerikanets

Attempt at Soviet satire via the 20's period comedy. End result - silly quasi-musical, with low budget, poor actors, low level of credibility and utterly dire message. Seriously, just watch and ask - what was the point? None, whatsoever, apasrt from a one time flick that is forgettable and shallow.

In my opinion, a must-see for anyone who is interested in what really was happening in Soviet Union's villages in 1920-1930, in the period of collectivization and creation of collective farms. Intelligent, bitter and vivid humor and actor's performance make this film outstanding in Soviet comedy genre. One of the best Lev Durov's roles, and you don't have many actors of Durov's caliber in world's cinema. Various aspects of Russian traditional rural mentality, peasant's mindset and lifestyle are shown through interesting situations in the background of new communist order and ideas intruding centuries-old Russian peasant lifestyle. Satire on communist values and disorder in Russian village of these years is rare to be found in Soviet cinema, and it's pictured at the highest artistic level in this film.

This film was based very loosely on the classic Russian historical novel written by talented author Nikolai Grigorevich Smirnov and tells an amazing story of how a Russian boy travels around the globe by accident during the early Soviet years, returning to Russia to combine Russian and Western culture in a remarkable, never predictable journey. This musical version of it would make the author turn in his grave. Not only does it omit huge, important portions of the whole story, many parts in the film are the director's own ideas, and they don't contribute in any meaningful way. Honestly, making a movie of this book would require something closer to the scale of War and Peace, time wise. The good news is that this book recently became available in English, so the non-Russian speaking world can finally experience this unique tale. Most book stores don't carry this title yet, but searching on a site like google will make finding it simple.