triunerus

This remarkable work merges into one powerful creative stream the genius of two outstanding figures of Russian culture: the writer Nikolay Gogol and the filmmaker-storyteller Alexander Rowe.

Gogol, a close friend of Pushkin, is a very original Russian writer, whose childhood and youth were spent in South-West Russia, also known as Little Russia or the Ukraine. He was one of the first to notice and embody the enormous literary potential of Little Russian life and folk art. The story "The Night Before Christmas", on which this film was shot, opens the cycle of his Little Russian works.

You might think that this is a typical love story, but in fact this is only the background, and in moral terms the Blacksmith, who fell in love with an arrogant and frivolous girl, is no better than the lustful Deacon who came to the Witch at night. This fits in well with the general outline of Russian literature, which traditionally looks down on the base passions of man. This is, first of all, a story about the triumph in a person's soul at Christmas in the context of a distinctive southern Russian village, which perfectly conveyed its atmosphere with all the qualities characteristic of the people of southern Russia, such as a sense of humor, kindness, broad soul, the ability to both deeply immerse themselves in thought and to walk, sing and have fun on all holidays, especially Christmas and Easter.

There is no evil in this story, the evil is leveled down to petty human vices, the victory over which is symbolized by the solemn worship at the end. Even the devil, played by the brilliant Georgiy Millyar, is not an enemy of humanity here, but the same victim of his own petty vindictiveness, appearing in an exclusively comical image. This is an exceptionally kind Soviet film for a kind holiday like Christmas and New Year.

The entire history of Russia is a series of brilliant grandiose upswings, when the natural fortune, wisdom and courage of the Russian people combine with competent governance in the interests of the nation and lead it to prosperity; and equally deafening catastrophic falls, when the nation suffers a severe crisis, the elite degenerates and turns from passionate giants into an anti-national layer of self-interested jaded dwarfs, led by traitors or idiots: from the fall of Russia, divided by appanage princes into feeble stubs, under the blows of the Mongol-Tatar hordes to Perestroika under the leadership of Gorbachev. This also includes the reign of the last emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, who with his incompetent and criminal rule almost destroyed the Russian statehood.

This wonderful dramatic film epic is about this period of Russian history and about the family and reign of the last Russian monarch. Everything about this film is wonderful: the carefully crafted script, the amazing acting, the brilliant music and sound design, the beautiful, extremely realistic sets, the camera work and editing, and even the portrait and character resemblance of the actors to their prototypes. But the main thing that delights is a historical accuracy. This film and the book on which it was based were created with great respect for the Russian people and a deep understanding of the social, economic and political situation that Russia and Russian people found itself in at that time. Minor flaws, if they exist, are simply invisible against this background.

The genius of the script is also in the fact that this film is positively assessed by people with diametrically opposed views: as soberly assessing the results of Nicholas' reign, and those who manage to find positives in it. Perhaps it is because here the personality of the tsar and the essence of the tragedy of a man who finds himself in the wrong place, is fully revealed from both sides: on the one hand, he is a loving and caring husband and father, a wonderful family man and a kind, simple-minded man from the aristocracy, deserving pity and compassion with his sad fate, on the other hand, he is a mediocre and stupid ruler and a bloody tyrant and executioner, on whose hands is the blood of millions of people who died during the repressions of the tsarist regime, the First World War, Civil war and mass famine.

As a person who loves Russian history, I periodically rewatch this film with pleasure, thanks to the film crew and the author of the book for this masterpiece. I think it should be shown in history classes in schools, especially in Russia. It is the best thing ever filmed about the last years of the Russian Empire, and perhaps the best thing that has ever been filmed in the West about Russia in general.

Despite all the disgustingness of the key scenes of this film and the gradual immersion into absurdity and madness of both the characters and the script itself, this meaning of this film is much deeper than it might seem to an unprepared viewer.

The basic story is quite simple, the first half of the film shows us two Russian officers who were sent to the guardhouse for some offenses, who gradually go crazy. I will not write spoilers, but in general the development of the plot is a very good allusion to a sick society plunging into madness and mass insanity.

I would even call this film prophetic. I know that it was filmed under the impression of the chaos and collapse that Russia found itself in after the collapse of the USSR in the 1990s, but how accurately it describes the events that have happened in the last decade in the Ukraine! It's hard for me to even imagine what film would better describe the complex system of relationships between society, power, officials and army, to which the main characters act as an allegories. In this interpretation, it's simply brilliant.