Ya uchitel

A much better film than I was expecting, one of the better efforts from modern Russian cinema relating experience of the war. It's not an action movie, so people who enjoy lots of shooting, explosions and battle scenes will be disappointed. It is a strongly symbolic film, with the key character being a village teacher under Nazi occupation. As a key cog in the machinery of re-education, he is torn between his love of Pushkin, the poetic soul of Russia, and the new National Socialist curriculum that he is required to deliver. An excellent acting performance portraying a man who is physically, morally and emotionally not your classic hero, and who is a realistically complex character faced with conflicting issues of loyalty, survival, patriotism and love. The photography is very good, with key scenes relying on lots of light and shadow to symbolise the opposing forces within. As a portrayal of life under occupation, it works as well as some of the better Western European films that deal with the subject, and does not rely on cardboard cut out characters who have to make the simple choice of collaboration or resistance. As the film shows, it's a lot more difficult than that.

I enjoyed this film. The first 4 minutes is 16mm footage taken by a German soldier in occupied Russia, presumably on his private movie camera. It's silent, so it's not your typical newsreel fare with an excitable narrator. I thought they did a good job all around; the story was believable as were the characters. The setting is an occupied village in Russia; you get the impression that the Germans have been there a while and life has a new norm to it. Any more and I'd be spoiling it for you; bottom line is that if you're a fan of WWII-related films, you should enjoy this one.