Le capitaine Volkonogov s'est échappé

This movie wins, in my opinion, with its outstanding acting (from another world - almost literally) and with the moral of the story.

So many emotions. It was captivating.

I dont want say anything else. But I have to because this review has to be at least 600 letters long.

So I'll add that giving a 10 to a movie is outstanding from my part. Go figure, there may always be a better film somewhere, but I won't wait for it to give 10 stars. It was the right movie at the right time. What else. It's gracefully graphic if that makes any sense.

Enjoy, this one is worth making time for, even for the busiest

.

This film hit me unexpectedly hard. It shows not only the brutality of the 1937-38 purges, but the deeper trauma of a nation destroying itself - a fear inherited through generations. It's a stark reminder of how terror shapes people's souls, and how difficult compassion becomes in a world built on fear.

The poetics of this hard to watch movie provides some historical explanation for an outsider like myself to what is happening in Ukraine and Russia right now and of what has happenned in Russia in other periods of history. The movie is more theatrical than historical, but it is strange how all the dystopical surrealism used in it can be at the same time the plausible exact truthful depiction of events. In tyranny you never know. It is desolating how much of nowadays russia is described there. The russian and human condition seems to be this eternal cycle of abuse and brainwashing generation after generation perpretated to perpetuate power and the only escape is unlikely and unreachable forgiveness. The film is full of unforgetable scenes like the pietà, the dance, the kid with the bonfire, the mass grave revelation, the execution lesson and so on. The sound track has pratically only one mesmerizing theme. Acting is superb. A must watch.

I crave for Russian movies, but beware, I speak of real films, not the CGI war propaganda garbage stuff as you may find from time to time. I remember for instance LEVIATHAN, THE MAJOR, FACTORY and a handful of others. Films which are the accurate reflect of the Russian society, now or at Stalin's period. Such as this one, where it is fully explained that poor innocent people were brutalized, tortured by men who knew those poor people were innocent; the torturers knew, but still did it because they received the order from Stalin to torture his own people so that no one trusts no one in order to avoid any plot against him. This kind of topic may be difficult to understand from the western countries eyes, especially now, in 2023 and the war in Ukraine...This is a terrific movie, gloomy, depressing, unbearable in some sequences, not a comedy for sure. A piece of jewel for anyone interested in this per WW2 Stalin period. I am sure there are batches of those films that have not reached France. The story of a torturer who suddenly wished to redeem himself, his soul, his conscience. Awesome.

I don't like the description of the film, which retells most of it, presented on KP, but it is described in a more interesting way on a foreign resource.

I don't want to touch on the thoughts that the authors are trying to convey through the actions of negative characters. The NKVD is bad. People were tortured for nothing and for no reason. They just wanted to, or were told from above to carry out some kind of plan. It's very interesting, but I would like to touch more on the visual component of the film.

The characters' clothes and surroundings work great to create the atmosphere of the film.

Well, it's literally 1984 only in the locations of some unusual Leningrad.

In principle, that's enough to make you like the movie. Unless, of course, you get enraged when they try to ruin and trivialize the past of a state in which you haven't even lived, demonstrating the excessive brutality of government.

It's still hard to do without plot comments, so I'll be brief.

The doubts of people who understand that maybe they are still doing something wrong and it is unlikely that it will be considered good for them at the top.

While someone is learning this difficult task, they are overpowering themselves, because they are doing it for the benefit of the state.

Someone is already in good standing, breaks down and commits suicide.

For someone, namely the main character, the 2 factors described above become decisive and begin to move him on the path of redemption.

This is the main motivation of our beloved Yuri Borisov. He is trying to atone for his sins in order to go to heaven.

I won't say if he did it or not. I'll say one thing: the ending surprised me.

Well, what did you want? Festival cinema, after all.