Eastern Front – Part 3 of 3 –Eastern Front

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The Eastern Front was a charnel house with unparalleled brutality on both sides . The German propaganda of treating all Soviet citizens as subhumans had some unusual self-goals. Latvia, Estonia , Lithuania and Ukraine, who considered the Russians as “occupiers”, actually welcomed the Germans as Liberators.

The foolish Germans first accepted the greetings and then started implementing their “kill all or enslave all” policies on the locals, leading to partisan/ guerrilla warfare behind their front-lines, while they advanced towards Moscow.

 

Due to this brutality the Russians suffered the maximum death and destruction. Totally 22 million civilian and military casualties were suffered by them. This number is a hallowed number for Russians and is trotted out whenever any initiative for rapprochement with the West is started. The “NATO Encirclement” by their former “Soviet Republics”, like Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania seems to validate their worst fears.

 

Understanding the extent of this distrust is difficult, but cinema can provide insight into its origins (we already know the reasons).Most Soviet era films settled for dull propaganda yet produced some sensitive award winning films such as The Crane are Flying, Ballad of a Soldier, etc The films listed below stand apart from the dull propaganda films that the Soviet Union promoted, reminding the world and regular citizens of the decisive defeat of the Germans through their immense sacrifice.

 

 

Come and See – 1985

 

Genre – War Movie (WW2)

Time: 2 hours 22 minutes

Language: Russian, German

Platform:  You Tube Free (with English subtitles)

Director: Elem Klimov

 

There are many films that deal with the experience of soldiers fighting enemy soldiers and the absolute mayhem that happens. Rarely does one see the civilian end of the war and what happens to them, when being caught in a war. Come and See is one such film that shows the events through the eyes of a teenaged boy.

 

Flyora (Alexander Kravchenko) sees the war as nothing more than a collection of objects. Due to his curiosity, he digs up a rifle and walks around with it, which is noticed by German recce planes. The die is cast. Flyora is soon caught between the Partisans who don’t want anyone to be left alone and German attacks that wipes out the village where he has taken shelter with a girl Glasha. The horror that unfolds is witnessed through Flyora’s dazed uncomprehending eyes.

 

The film slowly builds up until the German atrocities begin, an extended scene that is absolutely horrifying to watch. The sadism of the Germans is seen to be believed. Lest someone think these are ‘filmy” propaganda devices, the reality on the ground is much worse if one looks at the photos available online (just Google German atrocities Eastern Front; ,many of the images are blurred and caution you before viewing them). The ending is very ‘filmy’ and perhaps can be even called surreal but it’s also a message that the 22 million won’t be forgotten.

 

The film is free on You Tube

 

Real History/ Historical Background – 4 out of 5

Script – 5 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 5 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

 

Total – 4.4 out of 5

 

Burnt by the sun (1) – 1994

 

Genre – War Movie (WW2)

Time: 2 hours 14 minutes

Language: Russian

Platform:  You Tube Free (with English subtitles)

Director: Nikita Mikhalkov.

 

Burnt by the Sun was an intensely powerful reminder of what the Soviet Union had endured. In 1994, the increased political openness allowed for open conversations about Stalin’s purges ( These days its  “Purges? What Purges”?). This film had a definitive conclusion to its story but because of its popularity, not to speak of actually winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, two more sequels were made which set the action in the Eastern Front. However  this film’ is THE BEST of the trilogy and a rare film that shows Russians taking a critical look at their tortured early 20th century history.

 

The film is set one day in 1936 when The Great Purges of 1936-38  by Stalin was on.  There was no reason to be picked up and sent to the Gulag. All that was required was some weird convoluted “proof” of disloyalty to the Soviet Union.

 

Sergei Kotov (actor, producer, director, writer Nikita Mikhalkov) , his wife Marousia and daughter Nadia (Nadezhda Mikhalkova, director and actor Nikita Mikhalkov’s daughter) are on holiday along with their extended family. Kotov is a celebrated Civil War hero among the locals and has been decorated by Stalin, who Kotov holds as his close friend. Mitya, Kotov’s old friend and Marousia’s ex fiancée, returns into this idyllic scene and things soon turn dark as Mitya reveals his true purpose – to arrest Kotov on charges of treason. Kotov stubbornly believes that Stalin will always be there for him, but his attempts to contact him are met with silence. The torture scenes that follow force Kotov to confess to some nonsensical charges and the threat is clear – if he doesn’t do so , Mitya will go after his family, especially Marouisa whom he sees as his prize. Nadia’s curiosity and her innocent questions are in utter contrast to what Mitya is doing to his old friend Kotov.

 

This is not a war film in the strictest sense of the word (compared to the other entries in this blog) but the events shown here, the waves of senseless arrests of The Great Purge, was one of the reasons, the Soviet Army was almost defeated in the early stages of Operation Barbarossa as almost the entire Officer Corps had been decimated by Stalin in the Great Purges.

 

Nadezhda, Mikhalov’s  real life daughter as Nadia, steals everyone’s thunder. The film is free on You Tube  and won the Oscar for The Best Foreign Film which Mikhalkov picked up with his daughter

 

 

Real History/ Historical Background – 5 out of 5

Script – 5 out of 5

Story – 5 out of 5

Direction – 5 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

 

Final – 4.8 out of 5

 

PS:  The follow ups are full of gore and action but can’t beat the ‘non action’ ‘non war’ tension of the ‘original’. Burnt by the Sun 2 : Exodus (2010) is also available on You Tube but switch Auto Translate On.

 

Burnt by the Sun 3 : Citadel (2011) is the weakest of the trio as if Mikhalkov had settled for an overabundance of violence instead of story telling; this too is available on You Tube

 

 

The Dawns Here Are  Quiet – 1972

 

Genre – War Movie (WW2)

Time: 2 hours 50 minutes

Language: Russian, German

Platform:  You Tube Free (with English subtitles)

 

Director: Stanislav Rostotsky

 

Some war films start with a bang and proceed with escalating explosions. Others start with a whimper but end with a punch to your face that wakes you up.  The Dawns Here are Quiet is one such film.

 

Just when you think it’s a charming story, the war intrudes . Badly. Leaving everyone shattered.

 

And somewhere in the background, we feel that this is a statement about a Soviet Father/ Fathers losing many children in The War. Sentimental? Definitely. Hard-hitting? More so.

 

Senior Sergeant Vaskov (Andrey Martynov) is posted to a backwater location that seems idyllic. When he finds out that he is supposed to command and train a group of girls as anti aircraft gunners, he goes nuts and answers the girls in gruff tones. The girls find their sergeant funny. Still they obey him with grins and winks and a somewhat indulgent attitude as if he is a substitute father or elder brother. They think that the entire training is a bit of a joke and treat it as such. They do manage to shoot down a German plane and are now confident that they ‘have it’ and Vaskov gives his grudging approval.

 

One of the girls who has been smuggling food to her family, spots two soldiers in strange uniforms carefully approaching a nearby swamp. She soon identifies them as German Paratroopers and rushes back with the news. Vaskov convinces the girls to take a stand and they rush across the swampy terrain to cut off the two German soldiers and discover that they are dealing with not two but a much larger group. Vaskov has now to improvise and convince the absolutely ‘green’ terror stricken girls to do their duty and take on the Germans.

 

The film starts in color in the present (1972) but reverts to black and white as the action goes to the past. The deaths in the swamp appear more savage in black and white compared to color. As action goes, there are not too many war scenes but Vaskov’s desperation to save ‘his girls’ and protect them, while also engaging the enemy, forms the rest of the film. And somewhere in the background is the parable of many Vaskovs who weren’t able to save all their girls.

 

The ending is a bit ‘filmy’ but given what preceded it , still tolerable. The film has a high recall value in Russia and is considered one of the most liked and popular films of all times.

 

The film is free on You Tube in two parts:

 

Part 1 :

Part 2 : 

 

There is a full color remake in 2015 but in my view, it doesn’t have the charm and ‘innocence’ of the original.

 

Real History/ Historical Background – 4 out of 5

Script – 5 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

Final :  4.2 out of 5