Soviet Military and Hollywood

[deValcourt]

SUGGESTIONS PLEASE FOR GOOD SOVIET ERA FILMS

I was about to pick up a copy of Burnt by the Sun online (the one I lent out never came back) and decided to order a couple of other movies while I was at it.

So, I'm taking suggestions for good films that deal with life during the Soviet period - either in the USSR or other Soviet Bloc countries. I'm not necessarily looking for military-only movies, just good titles. Subtitles are fine as long as they are done well. One exception, my ear does not agree with German, so films in that language are out.

If you don't want to post your suggestions here, feel free to PM me. I like films with a "kick" and strange or experimental is always fun.

Looking forward to your replies.

Phillip

[Esteban_cool]

I suggest you watch "The Thief". Very moving. It also depicts in a very good way the love-hate relationship that russian society had -and still has- with Stalin´s image, through the eyes of a young kid. Regardless of the ending you watch (there are two alternative endings) you´ll get the point clearly.

BTW you can watch it on youtube with english subtitles.

[Jeffrey Meffert]

Burnt by the sun is great
My other favorites:
Come and See: Partisans and nazi atrocities in Belorussia Come and See (1985)
Baltazar's feasts: An extremely tense dinner with Uncle Joseph at the start of the terror. Piry Valtasara, ili noch so Stalinym (1989)
and if you can get over the german thing:
I was nineteen: about a german raised russian and how he was used as a soviet soldier in the last days of the war. Ich war neunzehn (1968)
If you want to take on a miniseries:
Cadets: Artillery cadets in hurry to get their training to get to the front line in Stalingrad. a bit soap-opera like but some interesting characters and great uniforms. "Kursanty" (2004)

[ph3s]

If you can find in English/subts

I would recomend Neulovimye mstiteli (1966)

cant find other 2 tho, it's a trilogy

Return of Neulovimye mstiteli
Crown of Russian Empire

Good sense of humour etc.


Buuut if you really want a kick and non military, experimental- get this http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091341/ my favourite for of all times

[deValcourt]

Thank you gents.

Esteban, I think I will try to watch The Thief on youtube.

Jeffrey - Come and See - Thank you! That was the one I was trying to remember that I had seen the trailer for and either the Sundance Channel or IFC had it on one morning before I had to go to work and only got to watch about 20-30 minutes of it (and of course I haven't been able to catch it since). If I can find it for sale, I get it in my order (and I'm sure it will be available).

ph3s - "Elusive Avengers"? I'm sure there's a better translation than that. As for the other "Kin-Dza-Dza", it got a very respectable rating from the IMDB and they are not known for generosity. It is also categorized as a "Russian cult classic" which is fine by me. I doubt the humor translates well. It never does in the Russian films with subtitles I've seen. I can watch a film in Russian without the subtitles, but it is a lot of work for me these days and when dialog is quick I always lose something because I can no longer "think" in Russian and have to do a translation into English in my head and that takes too much time because I've forgotten so much and always end up questioning what I think it means... One day I shall return to Russia and stay long enough to get it all back. If it weren't so incredibly expensive, I'd say "one day I'll retire to Moscow."

Thanks again. Until these movies come in, I'll just have to watch the 7-hour film version of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita again. For those who have read the phenomenal novel and want to watch the only film adaptation that even comes close to doing the book justice, you are in for a few brief sardonically funny scenes with bumbling NKVD officers in their brightly colored uniforms running about as well as actual footage of some horrors of Stalin's "Great Terror." The director puts actual NKVD personnel into the story when Bulgakov could only imply their tactics with great lines that are part of Russian vocabulary like, "No papers, no man."

Phillip