Ruslan i Lyudmila

What is this? Only six reviews on the Internet Movie Database for this work of art? It only goes to show how few of the eastern classics got attention in the rest of the world, even to this day. This is based on the works of the legendary epic poet Alexander Pushkin. I admit I don't know a lot about Pushkin, other than that he is a precursor to Gogol and his short stories which have the mien of dark folk tales, and this film reflects a similar kind of storytelling.

Mind you, this isn't terribly accessible to a non-Russian audience, in one sense. But, I think, if you are able to really sink into the mood of things, and maybe if you have a background in some of the more fantastic realms of 18th/19th century literature, you will be able to enjoy this elaborate, musical, grandiose tour de force. It's like a massive fantastical opera. Think Mozzart's The Magic Flute, maybe. Everyone is larger than life, and always declaiming, and wearing exuberant, wild costumes. There are ice palaces, sorcerers, evil dwarves, wild carousing, violence, the kind of passionate, wailing love you'll only see in stories, drunkenness. You'll find this has the logic of a fairy tale. It is huge and epic and absurd, and looks beautiful, and although it doesn't rock or swing or have the funk, the music is really cool.

Even the english subtitles seem to be doing their best to contribute to the madness. Watch as the translators scramble and twist themselves into all sorts of contortions to make the text rhyme in some semblence of the original poetry. I swear if you watch this with your loved one, you'll be uttering bizarre exclamations and phrases in public for months afterwards, and everyone will be completely nonplussed. Seriously, I'm not really adequate to describing what this thing is like. Just give it a try.

Wow. What a film. The more I see of Ptushko's work, the more I admire his wild imagination. There are beautiful visuals throughout such as the wizard's crystal garden or the upside down ceiling mounted fountains spewing multicolored water. There are also bizarre scenes such the gigantic head that advises Ruslan or the climactic duel where Ruslan hangs from the 30 foot long beard of a flying midget. A must-see for any fan of The Day the Earth Froze (Sampo) or Magic Voyage of Sinbad (Sadko) This came highly recommended to me by a friend who'd seen it at a film festival, and I was not disappointed.

Those who order this film expecting faithfulness to the Pushkin mock folk-epic should be aware that the structure owes more to the ancient bylina tradition than to Pushkin's sophisticated play with language and literary tradition. Here Ludmila is the daughter of Prince Vladimir of Kiev, and Ruslan is a more successful version of Prince Igor of the medieval tale. While it is a good "also-ran" in the folk-tale- fairytale film market, it is a long way from capturing the kind of following that, say, the "Wizard of OZ" has in film. A modern viewer will find it difficult to overlook the dated techniques of the film's special effects.

Hailed as Walt Disney of the Soviet Union, this epic fantasy is Ptushko's swan song (he passed away in 1973) and unequivocally his most ambitious work. Based on Pushkin's poem, RUSLAN AND LUDMILA runs 150 minutes, which allows Ptushko to mould an extensively lavish set to minutely fabricate the fairy tale, in a children-friendly fashion. Ruslan (Kozinets), a valiant knight, is going to marry Ludmila (Petrova), the prepossessing daughter of Prince Vladimir of Kiev (Abribosov), but in their wedding night, Ludmila is abducted by an evil dwarf wizard, Chernomor (Fyodorov) who is in alliance with a vengeful witch Naina (Kapnist), so Ruslan is on his way to rescue her, together with three other rivals who are also yearning for Ludmila, they are Rogdai (Mokshantsev), a sully-looking warrior, Ratmir (Akhmetov), a young Khazar Khan and Farlaf (Nevinnyy), a portly gourmand.

As a master of stop-motion filmmaking, four decades later, Ptushko's sleights of hand are all the same enthralling to appreciate prominently as a novelty before CGI-era, crude but fantastic, Naina's witchcraft, Chernomor's magic beard, the giant slumbering human head, the wizard's hat which can make people invisible, a crafty juxtaposition of labouring giants and normal-size humans, and the combat between Ruslan and Chernomor in the soaring sky, all can effortlessly take the audience's breath away at that time.

Unfortunately, the momentum slumps in the last half-hour, where Kiev is under siege from its barbaric attackers, here, so obvious that Ptushko is not competent to command the large scale of action sequences, the battle scenes are generically haphazard, extras are playing house, and shoddy models are ubiquitous. All the more, the acting, is the simplest type which leaves no trace of subtlety or empathy, fairly straightforward to the degree that every toddler can feasibly comprehend who is good and who represents evil, Ruslan is the invincible hero and Ludmila is the fearless heroine, who can single-handedly fend off Chernomor and his minions with all the pillows on the bed, Naina is the source of evil and Chernomor is merely a jester. It all can be subsumed as the standard Disney franchise, but unfortunately it becomes ever so distracting from adult's eyes. With all due respect to Ptushko and his screw for their laborious effort, a 6/10 is my conscientious vote for this one.

Just want to say to everyone: SEE THIS MOVIE!

It is funny & imaginative.

For people who love fantasy movies, this is a real good way to spend a saturday evening.

This is the russian "lord of the rings", in a more funny way.

It is based on a poem, so everyone speaks in poetry, but the subtitles are normal so for western people it is normal. First you think it is a nice child movie, with some singing... baby-explaining way. Later you see people get beheaded by barbarians etcetra, and some blood. So it really turns upside down!

GO SEE IT!