La défense de Sébastopol

For almost a year, in one of the longest, most epic sieges in history, Russian soldiers and the population of Sevastopol endured daily bombardments and hand-to-hand in the closing year of the Crimea War in 1854-1855. The 11-month siege inspired Aleksandr Khanzhonkov to produce Russia's first feature film, "The Defense of Sevastopol," premiering October 26, 1911, at the Livadia Palace with Tsar Nicolas II in the audience. The movie was over 100 minutes long, and captures several reenacted battle scenes of contemporary Russian troops participating with the Tsar's cooperation.

Also never attempted before was director Khanzhonkov's usage of two cameras filming the same scene, at separate angles, for the first time in cinematic history. The large scope of the recreated battlefields necessitated him to plan and implement the two cameras to save time and energy of the numerous troops.

Khanzhonkov gained permission the use the grounds of the actual battlefield to film the realistic fighting. He sought out the advice of several aging war veterans in their mid-70's to early 80's who endured the Sevastopol siege. Khanzhonkov was so impressed by the bravery of these veterans that towards the end of the movie he had them individually stand in front of the camera to honor them.

The Crimean War was also noted for the first large-scale medical treatment for the soldiers on both sides. This was the war England's Florence Nightingale and her team of nurses introduced sanitation in the hospitals treating the war wounded, oftentimes close to the front. Khanzhonkov illustrates that important change in medical attitudes by filming repeatedly teams placing the wounded on stretchers despite battles raging all around them.

Today's audiences will be frustrated by the lack of plot "The Siege of Sevastopol" brings to the screen. In essence, however, Khanzhonkov wanted to display the siege, with all its horrors and its interludes with the Russian troops relaxing and on recreation breaks, as a documentary. For Russian cinema, his work is a milestone in this ambitious project.