La infancia de Gorki

Apparently, this is one of the most esteemed of movies in film history. Or was. The first of a trilogy, but what about the other two? Shouldn't a trilogy be a triptych, incomplete in just one third? But whatever, it's a 1930s Soviet movie and it is full of casual cruelty, envy, mischance, violence, anguish, and stubborn fortitude. Life is cruel and one must simply soldier on, at least until such time as one gathers the strength to give the rascals the slip. Don't let them grind you down, Alexei.

It's foolish of Hollywood, for example, to remake celebrated classics, movies that succeeded, for inferior copies are just that. Consign all the lousy spin-offs, reboots, prequels, sequels and the like to the oblivion bin likewise. But a movie like this? It could really use a rethink and a refreshment. It's just too antiquated, and too relentlessly depressing. A remake couldn't change that without becoming disreputable, but at least we could have colour and maybe more directorial vitality, even if that did soften the impact of the story's miseries.

I watched this because Youtuber Moviewise referenced it, and he hated it, but it is, one must allow, an esteemed film, but it ain't no Ivan's Childhood (still, for me, Tarkovsky's best). Now, I just have to go on wondering, who exactly is Maxim Gorky anyway?

In his moving autobiographical novel 'My Childhood', Maxim Gorky saw his childhood as 'a beehive to which various single obscure people brought the honey of their knowledge and thoughts on life; often their honey was dirty and bitter, but every scrap of knowledge was honey all the same.'

Mark Donskoy recreated forcefully this 'beehive' full of loves, like the one between a grandmother and her grandchild, full of fighting or camaraderie among the children, but also, full of brutal violence between wife and husband or between parents and adult children, full of superstition, of alcoholism, of poverty and of revolutionary actions against the czarist State. His directing of a memorable cast (with a marvelous babushka), and in the first place of the children, is simply sublime. The street, kermis and sea scenery is brilliantly shot by his cinematographer, Pyotr Yermolov. The movie's prime message is that 'if we are ordered to do something wrong, our duty is to stand firm and be strong.' This impressive human portrait of life in the 19th century should be a reminder for all spectators of where we all come from. A real masterpiece.

If you're not familiar with Maxim Gorky, he was a famous Russian author. Moscow's Gorky Park is named in his honor. Mark Donskoy's "Detstvo Gorkogo" ("The Childhood of Maxim Gorky" in English) looks at the author's younger years. If the movie - based on Gorky's autobiography - is any indication, then Gorky had a very Russian childhood. Not just the clothes that he and his relatives and acquaintances wore, but their lifestyle and attitude towards their predicament. Seeing what Gorky's childhood was like, it's easy to see why he ended up subscribing to revolutionary ideas. There was a reason why he adopted the pseudonym Gorky (Russian for "bitter").

The movie is very well done. The scene where the prisoners get paraded through town makes clear why Russia had a revolution. Finally, the song played at the end sounds like something that you'd expect to hear in a Hollywood epic from the era (except in Russian, obviously). I wouldn't call this one of the greatest Russian movies ever, but it's nevertheless a solid piece of cinema. I recommend it.

Detstvo Gorkogo (The Childhood of Maxim Gorky) - 1938 Directed by Mark Donskoy G. Shenotinnik

A Review By Ollie

The Childhood of Maxim Gorky, tells the story of Aleksei Peshkov a 12 year old boy, living in 19th Century Russia, who would later be known as Maxim Gorky, possibly Russia's most famous and celebrated novelist and dramatist. Made in 1938, the film is based on Gorky's autobiography `My Childhood', and is rich and powerful film which will capture your attention from the beginning.

Naturally, being made in 1938, the film is in black and white, although the story is so colourful and vibrant, with characters so alive, you would be forgiven for thinking the film was made much later. It definitely does not feel almost 65 years old.

Aleksei Lyarsky, who plays Gorky, is instantly likeable as the young protagonist. Capable of portraying emotions far beyond his years, he works superbly alongside a cast of commanding and believable proportion. There is an almost Dickensian feel to some of the characters. While desperately sad, and easy to sympathise with, the Grandfather has an ineffable quality, both humorous and self pitying. In stark contrast, Maxim's Grandmother is a simple woman, one of goodness and truth, representing all that is beautiful in the optimism of the poverty in which they live.

This film is more than an autobiographical look at one person's life. It is a peek through the windows of a time long since passed, a history lesson and above all a lesson in life, love and friendship. This is probably the most definitive coming of age drama I have seen, with more authority and gravitas than Truffaut managed in the much acclaimed `400 Blows'.

There are several scenes which stand out. From a simple act of kindness from Maxim, when he gives a crippled boy his pet mouse, to Gorky and his friends sitting around a fire dreaming of a Utopian Neverland; from his Grandfathers almost comedic reactions to their ever increasing poverty, to the tears of his Grandmother as he hands her a coin.

This is a rich and immensely strong film, advanced well beyond it's years, which holds it's own exceptionally well nearly 65 years later. This film will leave an indelible mark on your memory, if only from the simplicity of the tale it tells. It is, without doubt, pure cinematic poetry. A piece of film history which everyone would do well to try and see –it will not disappoint. An extremely well earned 10/10!

Ollie

A good-looking memoir whose nostalgia for the days of the Tsar is tempered by visits from the Secret Police and scenes of prisoners being lead to the Gulag (luckily a thing of the past by the late thirties!), punctuated by beautiful shots of Mother Russia...

The resemblance between Alexander Lyarsky as the young Alexei (as he is called in the film - a role he also plays in the next part of the trilogy - and his illustrious subject at that age has been well captured in the Russian style, as one would expect. That Lyarsky died during the German occupation sadly also doesn't come as a surprise...