Simonida Stankovic

THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST AND DEEPEST FILMS EVER, BOTH, IN RUSSIAN AND WORLD CINEMATOGRAPHY. IT IS NOT AN IDEOLOGICAL PROPAGANDA AS IT COULD BE SUPERFICIALLY CONCLUDED AT THE FIRST SIGHT; THERE IS MORE AND DEEPER TO IT; IT IS AN EPIC, A TRUE RUSSIAN, BUT ALSO A TRUE HUMAN SAGA TOLD BY THE GREAT RUSSIAN WRITER OSTROVSKIY THROUGH A PERSONALITY OF A YOUNG RUSSIAN HERO PAVEL KORCHAGHIN PLAYED INGENIOUSLY BY ONE OF THE BEST RUSSIAN ACTORS, UNFORGETTABLE VLADIMIR KONKIN. FOR MANY RUSSIAN ACTORS HAD THAT IRRESISTIBLE CHARISMA IDEAL FOR THOSE DRAMATIC WAR ROLES, (and with good reason, having in mind thат 28.000.000 Russian and Soviet souls have been lost in WW2 and arround 10.000.000 Russians lost in WW1 and the Civil War.) BUT KONKIN REALY CREATED A MASTER PIECE OF THE ROLE OF PAVEL KORCHAGIN AND THEREFORE STANDS SIDE BY SIDE with the playade of Russian actors such as OLYALIN, BERNES, TIHONOV, KORENYEV, SALOMIN, YANKOVSKIY, later BEZRUKOV, MATVEYEV...THE DIRECTOR WAS ON THE LEVEL OF THE WRITER OF THE LEGENDARY BOOK AND SO WAS THE MUSIC AND LEGENDARY "COMRADE SONG " /SONG JUSTICE. sang by KONKIN. FOR THIS IS A BOOK AND A FILM ABOUT JUSTICE AND SACRIFICE. IN IT YOU WILL REDISCOVER THE MEANING OF LIFE, AND SACRIFICE FOR A HIGHER CAUSE, FOR OTHERS, FOR FREEDOM, FOR VALUES BIGGER THEN LIFE...YET FOR LIFE, GIVEN FROM GOD TO FULLFILL ITS DESTINY, LIFE WITH A MEANING. YOU WILL SEE THE FACE OF GOD IN PAVELs WIDE OPENED YOUNG EYES AND SMILE, AND SEE MORE OF JESUS IN HIM AND HIS COMRADES THEN IN EMPTY RELIGIOUS PREACHING FULL OF DOGMATIC RULES AND LAWS. HERE, YOU WILL SEE LOVE, FREEDOM, SELF-SACRIFICE AND COMPASSION HERE AND NOW - WHERE THE STEEL WAS TEMPERED. Simonida Stankovich