Mesto vstrechi izmenit nelzya

When I was a kid and we were playing hide and seek on the street, one of us would rush around eight o clock and find out what movie plays on TV. If he or she came out and shout "Russian movie!", we were making like a "bleah..." and continue play until dark. If a movie with John Wayne or an American movie of any sort was playing we all rushed into our homes to watch it.

Now, after thirty years or more, I rediscover part of this Russian movies, some of them magnificent, which Romanian TV was broadcasting , and I have to, I feel the need to make justice to them, even in this small way, writing a review on IMDb.

And, to be honest, when I watch right now, let's say "High noon" or a western, I am not impressed at all. But this happens with time, you become wiser and justice and true value surface eventually in your life. Dear friends, this is the single most perfect TV series about criminal police in history, and I don't need to say more. It seems written by a great Russian novelist, and I said it all.

This film is a masterpiece of the Soviet cinema, comparable to the role "Godfather" has been playing in the American culture. In addition to the brilliant performance by Vladimir Vysotsky, this is an all-star movie with the best Soviet actors of the 70s--80s: Udovichenko, Evstigneev, Kuravlev, Yurski, etc. With its level of dramatism and realistic depiction of Russia of the 40s, the movie is a artistic monument to the WWII generation.

It's a wonderful example of the great Soviet movies shot for the sake of its spectators but not for the regime and its propaganda machine. Even though it does feature some of the latter, it's skillfully incorporated into the thread of the plot and can be considered as rather an indisputable trait of that time: right after the Great Patriotic War the country and its past lie in ruins, and semi-hungry weary people are left with nothing more than aspirations and hopes towards brighter future. Thus, the historical context of Moscow from that period is very natural and believable.

Although its other feature of a slowly unfolding plot might scare some people away, it lets the creators rigorously portray all the details of the detective business from back then. Additionally, it makes the story whole without contradictory bits and pieces.

Finally, it's just pleasantly exciting to watch the main two characters amazingly played by Vysotskiy and Konkin: the ups and downs of their relations, and how they overcome their irreconcilable distinctions and dissents for the sake of justice and their common goal.

The movie is by far the part of that Soviet legacy that the people of the past era are proud of. Adding to that, it is still affecting the cinematography of the modern Russia. Unfortunately, today there are cohorts of low-quality Russian films produced just as petty copies exploiting the ideas of their successor without adding anything new to them.

This movie is a gem. I was amazed by its storytelling: at first slow, the momentum goes building on, spiralling until you finally get trapped in a never ending suspense. What would be of young Sharapov?

If I had to pick a climax scene, I would say is that when the new recruit of the Moscow Criminal Police ends up having to supper at the same table of the most dangerous Moscow criminal! The story makes here quite a twist, since previously Mr. Visotsky had stealed himself the show, without even giving a chance to his fellow partner.

Simply put, what an amazing way to tell a story.. In this movie it seems like every scriptwriter, assistant, every person in the crew carefully invested his talent and effort into creating a masterpiece. And this actually isn't a movie properly, but a TV mini-series. Having recently seen other East European works like the Dekalog (polish television) and Ironiya sudby, ili S lyogkim parom! (or the Irony of Fate) I can only conclude that the former Soviet television was able to produce a content of the utmost quality.

Having said that, I think it's such a shame that so few Western audiences (if any at all) had been exposed to Soviet culture. But I can not blame them anyway, for two reasons. First, some (and I remark "some") of this content might be ideologically flawed. Secondly, the English subtitles are really poor, and there were parts of this movie where the translation wasn't helpful at all, proving instead to be very confusing.

I'll stop here, since this is not the forum to discuss the deeper meaning of some Soviet content. I'll just recommend you to watch this movie. It's a masterpiece, greater than anything Hollywood could ever produce. Now that this movie is available on DVD from numerous sites on the Web, there's no excuse to give it a chance.

This film (actually a series) is one of the best the Russian cinema has to offer. It cannot compare with the works of Eisenstein or Tarkovsky but it is an above average work of art. The fact that it is more that 4 hours long does not hinder it a bit. There are several superb performances including one by the late Vladimir Visotsky.