Vremya zhatvy

Genre definition of this film is a hard thing: I have written "comedy" but at the same time I can label this film a "tragedy" because it delivers an overall sense of the Russian 20-th century tragedy, on which background a personal tragedy of the heroes looks just as a particular case. Besides, all the heroes are already dead by the time of the film and the back voice belongs to the youngest hero who is also late.

Plot outline is simple (I hope, I won't spoil viewing:): a tractor woman-driver dreams of a chintz pattern to lace a dress, however, in a setting of the total poverty of the Russian post-WW II village, the fabric may be only presented by authorities as a prize for the "high tempo" labor- and how hard (actually, too hard) she works! As a result, the woman is presented a challenge prize - a velvet "Red banner" which she has to keep at her village house. The banner immediately becomes a target for mice willing to eat it, and the woman tries to do her best to keep the banner intact because the loss or damage of a communist symbol may inflict an "anti-communist" charge against the whole family. The labor victory changes the life of the family: as the back voice says, "This was the last time I saw my mother smiling." The film well shows the twisted labor motivations people had when alienation from the results of the labor was the norm.

Almost a docu-drama, the picture uses many tools its author, a prominent Russian documentalist, has developed in her previous documentary works: shooting in a real Chuvash village, the use of not professional supporting actors all of which are real gems, modest, natural coloring, depiction of some still existing pagan rites, etc.

The film is a rare example of an honest and sincere movie free of "visual effects" and "product placement" crap deemed "cool" and profitable by modern Russian cinema producers. No surprise, it had an almost zero distribution in Russia and would probably find more fans among Western viewers.

If anybody wants to sense what and how simple Russians felt during the Stalin era - this is THE FILM.

pure poetry. a form of poetry of image, story and final part. a testimony about a period. and about people. a woman and her family. a field and a flag. a desire. and a song. the death, the dusty air, the goose, the mouse. and a lot of pictures. short - portrait from East. and this fact makes it a Russian amazing movie.for the air of for ever remember. for the images who proofs not only high art but who remembers slices of many other films from a cinematography who has force and science to give to artistic film nuances of document. a child and his universe. nothing more. nothing else. and a time of darkness . in the best light. under the magnificent wise of confession. a film who, after its end, becomes only experience. because its extraordinary beauty, its inspired ingredients are only tools for rediscover the profound truth of its message.

excellent footage using a fifties camera to attain the era zeitgeist,with very powerful poetic images of nature that may not serve the narrative still very beautiful. it can be read as the lost cause of communism and the triumph of personal will and the eventual downfall of patriotism in the soviet era.Although the heroine is presented as a one dimensional character we tend to sympathize with her in an indirect way, her inability to love anyone except her duty towards the soviet ideals is a perfect parable for self destruction. must see for every serious film lovers.the final sequence is very ironic towards the sufferings of a whole nation but still very clever and thought provoking.

And also one of the best movies about our Soviet past I've seen. The epoch looks thrilling and somehow wonderful at the same time. It does not speculate on Stalinism and does not adorn anything. It is almost documentary - I was not surprised when I learnt that the movie was based on the real story, that all actors, except Lyudmila Motornaya (Tosya), were non-professionals, and that the director, Marina Razbezhkina, has a considerable documentary experience.

There is not much action in the film and it can be somewhat difficult to continue watching repeated, slow scenes of the harvester, the field, the flag, and again, and again - but there is a definite sense in all this, and the ending redeems it all. It is worth to watch it until the end and then you will be surely touched.

If you are interested in what we have left behind, in our past, you must see this.

Some individual poetic moments of an almost forgotten wrecked past, be it the situation and/or the beautiful photography. It's the old Soviet Union, the time of the kolkhoz(e). A family history at a decisive moment. A son, another son, a mum, a dad and a bloody goose. A banner. A war history. A city apartment. And some almost forgotten dear memories. A mother holding her young son. Trying to hold things together in different respects. This commentary is already too long for a poetic movie that you simply should watch, instead of reading crap about it (like this piece). If you like The straight story, Bye bye blue bird or Der Himmel über Berlin, you might enjoy this one.