The Cranes Are Flying, written by Viktor Rozov,
based on his own play
7 out of 10.
Notes and
thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E
and http://realini.blogspot.ro/
The Cranes
are Flying is a worthwhile drama.
You can
find it on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list:
Nevertheless,
this viewer must confess a biased, even if I am not sure if it is compensated
to some extent.
Furthermore,
I return after some lines to add a sort of a spoiler alert, not in the sense
that I will divulge the ending or events that are important at or near the end,
but because I seem to digress so much that I may only dedicate a few lines to
the film.
On the one
hand, I admire Dostoyevsky, Gogol, Turgenev, Ilf and Petrov- Tolstoy a bit less
since I have learned from The Intellectuals by Paul Johnson how reprehensible
he could be as a man-and quite a few other Russian artists.
I own
borzois, used to breed them and maybe one hundred are in homes across this
land, out of my farm…they are also known as the Russian Hounds.
But having
lived under the communism brought and imposed by the Soviet Union, I have a
grudge, to say the least, against the Reds.
The state
of things in today’s Russia is also incomprehensible; a country that is not
only making amends for its past, but is bent on imposing –yet again- its will
on its neighbors and the world at large.
It is not
just the tyrant that decides to irradiate opponents like Litvinenko- and in
London to boot- that takes decisions that menace the peace and integrity of neighbors-
think Ukraine and Georgia-but the people at large.
This is the
most terrifying aspect, the fact that so many Russians approve and support this
despot and his policies.
There could
be attenuating circumstances- they have lived for so long under a brain washing
regime- and I, as a survivor of communism, can vouch that societies are
seriously affected by dictatorship-and they do not separate right from wrong
very well.
But still, I
hate it that they do not see Putin for what he is, except for those who support
Navalny and geniuses like the ones responsible for:
-
Leviafan, one of the best films
ever, recently filmed in Russia and of course hated and criticized by
authorities
The Cranes
Are Flying has a poignant message, a good story, powerful characters, heroism, and
patriotism.
Alas, there
could also be a sort of propaganda, maybe not as plain as in a, say North
Korean production, but it may be there.
Or, prejudiced
as I am, I think I see or hear it when they talk about the great heroes, those
who died in the war…
There is a
problem with the view of the war, with Soviet Union glorified as a valiant opponent
of Hitler and the –rightful vilification of the Nazi regime- a view, which
neglects both the Ribbentrop- Molotov pact, the alliance between Hitler and
Stalin, in the early stages, and the horrendous number of dead, at the hands of
the communist regime.
The soviets
and the Red Chinese have each killed more of their own people than the Nazis and
this somehow gets forgotten, with communism accepted as frequentable, which is
mind boggling, while fascism is forbidden in so many places- which it must be,
but along with a de3cisive, definite condemnation and interdiction of
communism.
This is one
other aspect that makes the viewing of The Cranes Are Flying Awkward, for those
who see the fight between communists and fascists as a big battle between two equally
great evils and are unable to see Soviet fighters as heroes.
Having said
that, there is a love story, between Veronica and Boris, complicated by the
fact that the latter goes to war, while Mark, another young man, stays home and
tries to seduce the girl, left home by the soldier.
There are
some poetic scenes, beautiful filming and the image of the cranes that fly at
the start and end of the drama.
Some of the
dialogue is grating to my years, even when they talk about “the hatred that the
soviet citizens have for war”
Instead of
taking in the dramatic effect of that speech and being awed by the moral of
this exemplary attitude, I almost laughed.
-
You dear –that I wish that really went
to hell- soviet propagandists that love peace so much, we still feel the
effects of your comradely affection, but wish we never had it or any of you for
that matter, anywhere near
-
Spasiba for bringing and enforcing communism?
No, to hell with all that…
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