Les ailes

I'm a frequent but casual movie viewer and I really enjoyed this film. I often find films enjoyable that deal in (for me) obscure themes and genres. So I was intrigued that this was produced in the Soviet Union in 1966, which was solidly in the cold war era. Add to that actors I couldn't possibly recognize playing roles I don't typically see and spare but careful direction and production, and for me this was a winner. Uncontrived and unpretentious. The themes it dealt with were (IMO) surprisingly "unpatriotic/heroic" and not propagandist. There's a nice balance of pathos and irony and, contrary to at least one of the other reviews, the film is not humorless at all. If there is more Soviet-era cinema like this I would be interested to see it.

This is a film directed by Larisa Shepitko--a woman whose life was cut very short at age 41. Because Russian movies are generally pretty tough to come by here in the US and because her career was short, there aren't a lot of opportunities to see her films.

"Wings" is a very slow-moving film. This isn't necessarily a criticism--just a comment on the style. Instead of telling the viewer a lot about the lady who is the subject of the film, you slowly begin to learn more about her as she appears to be in the throes of an existential crisis.

Nadezhda Petrovna is a woman in her early 40s, though she appears much older. She is the principal of a high school but seems vaguely dissatisfied with her job and personal life. Watching her, she seems rather sexless and emotionally stunted--and a bit lost. As the film unfolds, you learn through brief flashback scenes that she was a pilot during WWII and apparently since then, she has been in a bit of a fog. And, the only time she smiles or seems at ease is when in an airplane. Throughout nearly all of the film, Petrovna walks about in a rather tentative and slow-motion manner--and it may take some getting used to in order to enjoy the film. Perhaps 'enjoy' is not the right word, as this isn't meant to be enjoyed but more appreciated for the character study that it is. Visually and especially musically, this is a very, very good film--very evocative but slow and with a rather vague ending that might disappoint many. I give it a 7, as it IS a quality production--but not one that I'd heartily endorse.

By the way, while this is NOT a funny film and won't elicit a lot of laughs, I did love seeing the school play where a few of the kids were dressed like nesting dolls (matryoshka dolls). This was pretty cute.

A schoolmistress, former glory of the USSR air force, reflects on her life.

Within the post-war cinema (1960s), it's one of the best Russian films I have ever seen.

By Larisa Shepitko, one of the best female directors of all time, 'Wings' is the portrait of a woman who, even with a stable and successful life, feels an enormous nostalgia, when remembering the days on the front line to defend her nation.

The pace, slow and calm, is perfect for the effect that Shepitko intended to do.

The love for the country overrides the personal romance, and family and social relationships are questioned, when the desire to return to the former glory days consumes insanely the little that she still has inside her.

It's also a pertinent approach to feminism, and the role of women in the Soviet hierarchy.

The cinematography is very good, with a fabulous composition.

(1966) Wings/ Krylya (In Russian with English subtitles) DRAMA/ SOCIAL COMMENTARY

In order for this film to be appreciated, 'one' must first consider the time it was made which is in 1966 and the place it was based on which is a small part of Russia during Stalin's rule since the film is near plot less and does instead states a single person's experiences, in this case happens to be a woman by the name of Nadezhda exceptionally played by Maya Bulgakova, playing a civilized normal woman who's starting to adjust back to normal civilization again after fighting on the Russian's side as a war pilot. Directed by critically acclaimed director by the name of Larisa Shepitko who has directed 4 feature films, this one is the third before she died from an unfortunate automobile accident at the age of 41. Aforementioned earlier, the film starts with a middle aged woman whose just being hailed as a war hero on national TV for shooting 12 planes down and now that the war's over, she's then presented for a job as a principal at a school, and barely starting, she's soon mocked by a bunch of school kids who're just being school kids, resulting to one of them to be expelled. She then tries to eat out at one of the fancy restaurants since the job she has can make her afford it who used to always eat at home, but upon trying to go in, the manager then stops her from going inside and tells her that because she's a female, she can only come in anytime after 6 PM if escorted by a male. She also has a daughter whose just coming out of university and finds out that she's already married and upon meeting him, doesn't really approve of him and later finds out that she's not really in love with him either. Can this be the result of this long absence of not conversing with her frequently as a result of the war! If anyone who is reading this review think that is all there is, well all I can say is that this is only a few examples she had to endure out of a film that's only an hour and a half. The only kind of happiness was when the war was still going on and when she was still defending Russia's skies which the movie uses flashbacks between the past and the present time. The best way to describe it is that it's the Russian equivalent to "The Best Years Of Our Lives" and "Til The End Of Time" and "the Hurt Locker" to name a few...with the difference is that she's a female and at the time was treated as a second class citizen living in a repressed Russian society.

This Russian film is about the fortunes of former war heroine flyer Nadezhda Petrukhina, who is working as a schoolteacher in the aftermath of the war and becoming increasingly dissatisfied with her lot. Her daughter Tanya (Zhanna Bolotova) has married an older man, Igor, who Petrukhina clearly thinks isn't good enough for her, while the teacher is herself courted by a museum director, Pavel Gavrilovich (Pantelejmon Krymov).

Centring on the former lady flyer and taking the film at a nice slow pace, we follow her through several days and activities such as going to a museum, catching up with old friends at the airfield, meeting Igor's more intellectualised friends, and chewing the fat with a cafe waitress, eventually waltzing with her to the strains of the Great Waltz.

'Wings' is a film of quiet beauty which remains long in the memory after you've seen it - whether it is the school play you remember, with the dancing Russian dolls, or the cleaner mopping the school corridors, or Boris the deputy head painting the walls, or the sight of Petrukhina muching sausage with the workers in the pub, or the final swoop of wings as she takes to the sky once more, or the flashbacks to her co-flyer sweetheart in the war.