Zamri, umri, voskresni!

The unusual title (never explained) is supposedly the name of a popular Russian children's game, but the only contest being waged in this remote town on the far eastern edge of Soviet Asia is called survival, and it's clear there aren't too many winners. One of the more exciting Soviet imports in quite a while is also one of the more depressing films ever made, presenting a tough and totally unsentimental depiction of childhood as seen through the eyes of a rebellious schoolboy and the level-headed young girl with whom he develops an antagonistic friendship. There's a strong documentary flavor to the episodic storyline and grainy black and white photography, and writer director Vitaly Kanevsky devotes equal time to the conditions which shape their fate (note the subtle but unmistakable condemnation of Stalinism recurring throughout). In effect the film is more of a mood piece, with the environment itself (ice, mud and manure) becoming the primary character. It's not always an easy film to watch or understand, but the effort can make it a rewarding experience.

I don't know why I've seen so many reflexive, "only a movie" films lately, but here's another. It makes you wonder whether a viewer can choose to alter a film in his own mind, and take out the bits -- like this, for instance -- that partly ruin or deplete the experience for you. Aside from that, the film, which has rightly been assessed as being a kind of Russian "400 Blows," is awfully good, but since nothing really happens you may find yourself wishing it were shorter; but for me, it's enough to just enjoy the beautiful black and white cinematography, and the performance of this boy. It's a remarkable performance -- he's loud but not obnoxious, a little whiny but not snotty, cute but not sickly sweet. Even though the look and the feel of the film is unique -- or, a unique amalgam, I'll say -- even had it not been, it could rest quite well on the face of this boy, which is open, feminine, and almost Asian in its features, with sharp, tiny black eyes.

There are some pretty raucous scenes -- the most effective being a scene where villagers are clamoring for food handouts and one man eats a "pancake" of flour and mud, but also one at a cultural event (a ball of some sort?) where the visitors turn to drink. And like that other children's classic, "My Life as a Dog," it has one scene that will stay with you a while -- that one had the bottle scene, and this one has a scene where our hero gets peed on. (Unlike that film, not much attention is paid to sex; although there is one act of desperate adolescent sexual desire -- although it's more like a begging -- that's pretty good.)

The oblique narrative is sometimes hard to understand -- at least to me -- not tonally (it's neither light nor harsh, but it has a specific feel) but literally, and that's probably aided by the fact that the film is mostly a series of events rather than a kind of plot. That's fine, because many of the individual scenes are thoroughly interesting, and every once in a while we get one like the ice skate thieving, which is disorienting and lyrical at the same time. What's particularly interesting about the film, I think, is that it goes beyond mere mischievousness -- like James Dean, we are presented with a kid who wants to do the right thing, but everything he does gets screwed up. And it's surprising that we end up on his side, considering the fact that he at one point tips over a train. 9/10

"Freeze Die Come to Life" - Vitaliy Kanevskiy's autobiographical drama. Post-war hungry years, a small city in the Far East. Around devastation, dirt, evil faces, former criminals, complete hopelessness. Only the friendship of 12-year-olds, a boy and a girl, living in the same hut, like a light ray in this dark scary surrounding world. Laureate of many film festivals, including Cannes. Fact: The author of the film, he was born in the Far East, and then served 8 years in prison.

Freeze, Die, Come to Life is the harrowing story of two adolescents, Velarka (Pavel Nazarov) and Galicia (Dinara Drukarova) attempt to cope with poverty and an unstable home life in a Soviet mining town in Siberia near the close of World War II. This was the first film by Russian director, Vitaly Kanevsky, who served eight years in a Soviet labor camp.

Though the title is the name of a Russian children's game, the children here are not playing any games; the stakes are too high. Velarka's mother is a prostitute and the family is poor. Both he and Galicia must sell tea to workers, convicts, and local Japanese POWs in order to survive. Their relationship starts out as antagonistic but they slowly develop a friendship and grudging admiration for each other.

Left to fend for himself, Valerka gets into serious misadventures such as putting yeast in a school sewer causing an overflow onto the city streets, derailing a train, and helping to rob a jewelry store. He must keep running to avoid the police and pursuing jewel thieves. Though the film is bleak, the sensitive relationship of the children and the courage they display is what will stay with you. The ending is grisly but (anticipating Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry by eight years) the cameraman giving directions to the actors reminds us that "it's also a movie".

Freeze, Die, Come to Life was turned down by Russian censors and had to be edited several times before it was approved, giving it a somewhat disjointed feeling. In its final version, however, it won the 1990 Cannes Film Festival's prize for Best First Film. Unfortunately, it received scant distribution in the West and has become an overlooked gem.

Very interesting look into stark Soviet history, in the time of Gulags and "work settlements," as told through the eyes of children who live there.

In between the squalid conditions, flowers of humanity sprout out, in the form of friendship and ill-appreciated loyalties. This is a tale of understanding what life may or must have been like in such settlements. It strikes a chord with those who can or try to understand such environments. The analogies are quite interesting, as they are critical. (Take the scene for instance, of the parade through the sewage around the school, while hoisting Stalin's portrait on high.)

While not as other Russian imports (VOR/THE THIEF, BURNT BY THE SUN or the French-Russian film, THE EAST), ZAMRI, UMRI, VOSKRESNI! has a message and a decent story to tell.

Recommended.