Soviet Films post war are almost always going to be epics and tellings of their folk-heroes. One of these days I'll get around to watching Eisenshtein's Alexander Nevsky (1936 or 37) and Ivan the Terrible (1938)
All the more while to check it out. I'm used to watching Post-Soviet Russian films (I've seen Admiral, 9th Company, Purgatory, Brest Fortress, White Tiger and that Kalashnikov biopic that came out 4ish years ago) So I'm used to the Russian.
But there has been some true drek as of late. I was wicked disappointed by Stalingrad. I guess I expected the Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan treatment.
I've stood on Mamayev Kurgan. One's perspective about Russia changes from that view.
I assume you have seen Sergei Bondurchuk's War and Peace? The Battle of Austerlitz is stunnning in its verisimilitude, he used between 10,000-15,000 Red Army soldiers as extras.
Ilya Muromets is not factual. It is a Soviet fantasy epic based on traditional Russian bylinas (oral epic folklore and heroic fairy tales) rather than actual recorded history.
Folklore vs. Fact
The Protagonist: Ilya Muromets is a celebrated legendary bogatyr (knight-errant), but historians consider him a composite folklore figure combining myths from different centuries rather than a precise historical person.
Magical Elements: The narrative includes overt fantasy tropes, such as miraculous healing via magic elixirs from wandering pilgrims, the wind-blowing monster Nightingale the Robber, and a three-headed fire-breathing dragon.
Anachronistic Timelines: The legends mash together figures from different eras—such as serving Prince Vladimir of Kiev (who ruled in the 10th and early 11th centuries) while interacting with geopolitical conflicts from later centuries.
Ideological Framing
Soviet Influence: As noted in reviews of Ilya Muromets (1956), the folkloric material was adapted through the lens of mid-20th-century state-funded Soviet cinema, emphasizing patriotic mobilization and collective defense against external invaders.
The movie is made by my favourite studio too. Ilya Muromets was produced by Mosfilm. The studio made heavy state-sponsored propaganda during the Soviet era, and its modern leadership remains closely aligned with the Kremlin, supporting state policies and the invasion effort
Mosfilm and Ilya Muromets
Production: Directed by Aleksandr Ptushko, Ilya Muromets (released in the US as The Sword and the Dragon) came out of Mosfilm as a major folklore adaptation.
Soviet Propaganda: Mosfilm functioned as the primary state film arm of the USSR. While many films were classic fairy tales or dramas, they regularly filtered historical and mythic narratives through communist ideology and state-sanctioned patriotic frameworks.
Modern Loyalty to the Kremlin
Leadership Alignment: Karen Shakhnazarov, the long-standing head of Mosfilm, has publicly backed the Russian government and its military actions.
State Support: The studio operates with state backing, focuses on patriotic education, pays taxes into the Russian system, and has openly contributed funds to support the invasion effort in Ukraine.
Can you do a film review on: Mission to Moscow? It was Hollywood Propaganda in support of Stalin. The author, Joseph E. Davies, US Ambassador to Moscow, was encouraged to write this fictional work by Roosevelt. Americans have loved communism from the outset. Democracy is married to communism.
After 2 hrs of this, you might need to lie down and sleep it off. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Remember, while Americans were watching this slop, millions were being slaughtered by this regime.
During the Soviet communist era, historians estimate that tens of thousands of churches, cathedrals, mosques, and synagogues were destroyed or converted to secular uses. For the Russian Orthodox Church alone, estimates suggest that out of roughly 54,000 to 80,000 places of worship existing in 1917, over 20,000 to 40,000 buildings were demolished outright, while tens of thousands more were closed, desecrated, or repurposed.
Key Phases of Destruction
1917–1920s (Early Soviet Regime): Initial property confiscations and anti-religious decrees stripped religious groups of legal status, leading to thousands of closures and localized demolitions.
1928–1941 (Stalinist Era): The most intensive wave of physical demolition occurred during the aggressive collectivization and atheist campaigns, reducing operating churches in regions like the Russian Republic to fewer than 500 by 1939.
1958–1964 (Khrushchev Campaign): Nikita Khrushchev launched a renewed state campaign that closed and destroyed an additional 6,000 to 10,000 churches across the USSR.
Alternative Fates for Surviving Buildings
Thousands of structures that avoided physical destruction were stripped of their crosses and bells.
Buildings were converted into grain warehouses, factories, cinemas, clubs, or prisons.
I won’t go into the fate of the clergy, religious and laity who were tortured, murdered.
It's based on the Bernanos book, directed by Bresson and Laydu in his first film role. Warning: Diary of a Country Priest (Journal d’un curé de campagne) directed by Robert Bresson was a modest, independent-style production rather than a large studio blockbuster.
Production Details
Backing: It was backed by the independent French company Union Générale Cinématographique (UGC) and produced by Léon Carré and Robert Sussfeld.
Cast: Bresson used mostly non-professional actors or stage unknowns, casting newcomer Claude Laydu in the lead role.
Style: Eschewing major studio sets and theatrical conventions, it relied on austere, minimalist on-location shooting and a low budget.
Bresson also did a fine Joan of Arc film too. I shan't provide a summary of the film, one can find that for themselves. I do not wish to give away the storyline, in case one decides to see it. Bresson was known to use non-professional actors. I find some professionals unconvincing, and hard to watch. Totally unbelievable. Unimpressive, to say the least.
This link tells you a little about the movie, and there is a trailer too. The creators have taken liberties with the film. Adding occurrences that never happened. Even Jones’s family had to speak out against it. Over 80 years to make a film, still can’t get it right.
If you like russian films, watch Tarkovsky. Stalker, Andrei Rublev, and The Mirror are all amazing movies, hard to understand plot wise in many cases, and I feel like a lot is lost in translation, but they're well made enough that the emotions cut across the language barrier.
Soviet Films post war are almost always going to be epics and tellings of their folk-heroes. One of these days I'll get around to watching Eisenshtein's Alexander Nevsky (1936 or 37) and Ivan the Terrible (1938)
Nevsky is truly groundbrekeaing cinema. Especially when you watch it and understand the Russian.
All the more while to check it out. I'm used to watching Post-Soviet Russian films (I've seen Admiral, 9th Company, Purgatory, Brest Fortress, White Tiger and that Kalashnikov biopic that came out 4ish years ago) So I'm used to the Russian.
The Kalashnikov biopic wasn't half bad.
But there has been some true drek as of late. I was wicked disappointed by Stalingrad. I guess I expected the Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan treatment.
I've stood on Mamayev Kurgan. One's perspective about Russia changes from that view.
Never felt the urge to watch the 2013 Stalingrad, the 1993 German film is much better, imo.
Fan me with a brick. A 1993 German version? I've gotta watch this. Thanks! I assume it is called Stalingrad?
Yes. Stalingrad.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalingrad_(1993_film)
I assume you have seen Sergei Bondurchuk's War and Peace? The Battle of Austerlitz is stunnning in its verisimilitude, he used between 10,000-15,000 Red Army soldiers as extras.
And Borodino? Foly Huck Matban!
I haven’t seen it yet, but I do have it in a playlist waiting.
Ilya Muromets, that is one of my favourites.
Ilya Muromets is not factual. It is a Soviet fantasy epic based on traditional Russian bylinas (oral epic folklore and heroic fairy tales) rather than actual recorded history.
Folklore vs. Fact
The Protagonist: Ilya Muromets is a celebrated legendary bogatyr (knight-errant), but historians consider him a composite folklore figure combining myths from different centuries rather than a precise historical person.
Magical Elements: The narrative includes overt fantasy tropes, such as miraculous healing via magic elixirs from wandering pilgrims, the wind-blowing monster Nightingale the Robber, and a three-headed fire-breathing dragon.
Anachronistic Timelines: The legends mash together figures from different eras—such as serving Prince Vladimir of Kiev (who ruled in the 10th and early 11th centuries) while interacting with geopolitical conflicts from later centuries.
Ideological Framing
Soviet Influence: As noted in reviews of Ilya Muromets (1956), the folkloric material was adapted through the lens of mid-20th-century state-funded Soviet cinema, emphasizing patriotic mobilization and collective defense against external invaders.
The movie is made by my favourite studio too. Ilya Muromets was produced by Mosfilm. The studio made heavy state-sponsored propaganda during the Soviet era, and its modern leadership remains closely aligned with the Kremlin, supporting state policies and the invasion effort
Mosfilm and Ilya Muromets
Production: Directed by Aleksandr Ptushko, Ilya Muromets (released in the US as The Sword and the Dragon) came out of Mosfilm as a major folklore adaptation.
Soviet Propaganda: Mosfilm functioned as the primary state film arm of the USSR. While many films were classic fairy tales or dramas, they regularly filtered historical and mythic narratives through communist ideology and state-sanctioned patriotic frameworks.
Modern Loyalty to the Kremlin
Leadership Alignment: Karen Shakhnazarov, the long-standing head of Mosfilm, has publicly backed the Russian government and its military actions.
State Support: The studio operates with state backing, focuses on patriotic education, pays taxes into the Russian system, and has openly contributed funds to support the invasion effort in Ukraine.
Can you do a film review on: Mission to Moscow? It was Hollywood Propaganda in support of Stalin. The author, Joseph E. Davies, US Ambassador to Moscow, was encouraged to write this fictional work by Roosevelt. Americans have loved communism from the outset. Democracy is married to communism.
I tried looking for Mission to Moscow, but I can’t find it. Wish I could review it.
What? Netflix does not have Mission to Moscow? What good is Netflix if it does not have this? Let me see if I can find it for you.
Here you go:
Mission to Moscow
https://vimeo.com/343814305
After 2 hrs of this, you might need to lie down and sleep it off. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Remember, while Americans were watching this slop, millions were being slaughtered by this regime.
During the Soviet communist era, historians estimate that tens of thousands of churches, cathedrals, mosques, and synagogues were destroyed or converted to secular uses. For the Russian Orthodox Church alone, estimates suggest that out of roughly 54,000 to 80,000 places of worship existing in 1917, over 20,000 to 40,000 buildings were demolished outright, while tens of thousands more were closed, desecrated, or repurposed.
Key Phases of Destruction
1917–1920s (Early Soviet Regime): Initial property confiscations and anti-religious decrees stripped religious groups of legal status, leading to thousands of closures and localized demolitions.
1928–1941 (Stalinist Era): The most intensive wave of physical demolition occurred during the aggressive collectivization and atheist campaigns, reducing operating churches in regions like the Russian Republic to fewer than 500 by 1939.
1958–1964 (Khrushchev Campaign): Nikita Khrushchev launched a renewed state campaign that closed and destroyed an additional 6,000 to 10,000 churches across the USSR.
Alternative Fates for Surviving Buildings
Thousands of structures that avoided physical destruction were stripped of their crosses and bells.
Buildings were converted into grain warehouses, factories, cinemas, clubs, or prisons.
I won’t go into the fate of the clergy, religious and laity who were tortured, murdered.
Thanks 👍
This is some background on Mission to Moscow, book & film.
https://substack.com/@skzi/note/c-311814781?r=7qsdqg&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
Thanks 👍
Don't say I don't look after you. Btw, maybe check out this film: Diary of a Country Priest (F Eng Sub 1961) Claude Laydu, Jean Riveyre, Adrien Borel
https://ok.ru/video/7771365968564
It's based on the Bernanos book, directed by Bresson and Laydu in his first film role. Warning: Diary of a Country Priest (Journal d’un curé de campagne) directed by Robert Bresson was a modest, independent-style production rather than a large studio blockbuster.
Production Details
Backing: It was backed by the independent French company Union Générale Cinématographique (UGC) and produced by Léon Carré and Robert Sussfeld.
Cast: Bresson used mostly non-professional actors or stage unknowns, casting newcomer Claude Laydu in the lead role.
Style: Eschewing major studio sets and theatrical conventions, it relied on austere, minimalist on-location shooting and a low budget.
Bresson also did a fine Joan of Arc film too. I shan't provide a summary of the film, one can find that for themselves. I do not wish to give away the storyline, in case one decides to see it. Bresson was known to use non-professional actors. I find some professionals unconvincing, and hard to watch. Totally unbelievable. Unimpressive, to say the least.
May I make another request for you, possibly for you to review this film, Mr Jones from 2019. I’m sure it’s not too hard to find.
It’s about Gareth Jones, the journalist murdered in the 1930s. He was also an advisor to Lloyd George.
Here is some information on Jones.
https://substack.com/@skzi/note/c-297464852?r=7qsdqg&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
This link tells you a little about the movie, and there is a trailer too. The creators have taken liberties with the film. Adding occurrences that never happened. Even Jones’s family had to speak out against it. Over 80 years to make a film, still can’t get it right.
https://substack.com/@skzi/note/c-299316340?r=7qsdqg&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
If you like russian films, watch Tarkovsky. Stalker, Andrei Rublev, and The Mirror are all amazing movies, hard to understand plot wise in many cases, and I feel like a lot is lost in translation, but they're well made enough that the emotions cut across the language barrier.
Thanks 👍
Good for you, digging into Russian culture. Have you seen the novels of Evgeny Vodolazkin? One of them, The Aviator, is being made into a film.
No, I haven’t. I’ve been eyeing up Crime & Punishment though.
Dostoyevsky is a great place to start. Also Turgenev (Fathers and Sons).
Thanks 👍
Great review by the way.
Thank you.
Just watched this! Fantastic!