The greatest Russian movie isn't even Russian.

[Dinner]

Tonight I rewatched one of my favorite movies of all time, Doctor Zhivago. For those of you who do not know it is a story of late Tsarist Russia, WW1, and the Russian Revolution along with its after math. It's one of the last truly epic films made by Metro Goldwyn Mayer and, at the time, no Russian director would make the film so the Russian author had to seek the help of an American film company. In the tradition of great Russian novelists such as Leo Tolstoy the book/film does not take sides but instead tells the story of life in all of its gritty and, yes, sometimes gory details. This is no doubt why Soviet authorities refused to make the movie. It was indeed critical of revolutionary forces when their actions warranted disapproval just as the author was with Tsarist or German forces or even of the selfish actions of the rich in Tsarist Russia.

If you haven't seen this movie before or even if you haven't seen it in a while, it was released in 1962, then I highly recommend taking the time to view it as it is a true classic. One day such a film may even be allowed to be made in Russia.

[Dinner]

[Dinner]

It's interesting that they had an Egyptian Arab play the part of a Russian doctor and poet.

[Dinner]

I bet even Che would like the pro-communist parts even if he dislikes the parts critical of the communists. Sir Alexis Guinness played his role masterfully.

[Monk]

Hey Oerdin. Failing to clarify the alleged 'modern EU viewpoint' in the other thread, I see you're going for Russian baiting instead? Serb still around these days?

[Dinner]

[His half brother speaking of his funeral]I was astonished by the extent of his reputation as his works were banned by the party at the time. He was disapproved of by the party but if people love poetry then they love poets and no one loves poetry like a Russian.

The remarks about the Soviet labor camps and the killing of the innocents was no doubt what pissed off the communist party.

Hey Oerdin. Failing to clarify the alleged 'modern EU viewpoint' in the other thread, I see you're going for Russian baiting instead? Serb still around these days?

You should watch "The World at War" by Thames Entertainment published in 1972 as it contains accounts of people saying the conflict from 1914-1945 was a European civil war with a long armistice which outsiders won (namely the US and the USSR).

[SlowwHand]

"Lara's Theme". My mother loved the movie and the song from it.

[Kitschum]

From what I've seen of Soviet film (postwar), which admittedly isn't a lot, it is pretty high quality and only occasionally do you see blatant propaganda take over. The political influence is more evident in what isn't being shown. While American movies can be no less propagandistic there's usually a counterexample you can point to that pulls the other way. I only watched Dr Zhivago once years ago on a classic movie channel, and I don't remember what angle it had if any.

And while I don't know about greatest per say some of the most amazing things the Soviet Motherland's cultural department gave us are anti-capitalist cartoons like this one:



part 2:



Only wish that they were available in better quality.

[onodera]

Tonight I rewatched one of my favorite movies of all time, Doctor Zhivago. For those of you who do not know it is a story of late Tsarist Russia, WW1, and the Russian Revolution along with its after math. It's one of the last truly epic films made by Metro Goldwyn Mayer and, at the time, no Russian director would make the film so the Russian author had to seek the help of an American film company. In the tradition of great Russian novelists such as Leo Tolstoy the book/film does not take sides but instead tells the story of life in all of its gritty and, yes, sometimes gory details. This is no doubt why Soviet authorities refused to make the movie. It was indeed critical of revolutionary forces when their actions warranted disapproval just as the author was with Tsarist or German forces or even of the selfish actions of the rich in Tsarist Russia.

If you haven't seen this movie before or even if you haven't seen it in a while, it was released in 1962, then I highly recommend taking the time to view it as it is a true classic. One day such a film may even be allowed to be made in Russia.

:cough: Have you ever read or watched Quiet Flows the Don? Not the 2006 miniseries, the lauded 1958 movie. In the tradition of great Russian novelists such as Leo Tolstoy the book/film does not take sides but instead tells the story of life in all of its gritty and, yes, sometimes gory details. It was indeed critical of revolutionary forces when their actions warranted disapproval just as the author was with the Whites or the Interventonists or even of the selfish actions of the rich in Tsarist Russia.

So I guess, one day such a film was allowed to be made in Russia.

[Serb]

Not to mention the author got a Nobel prize for the book, as well as Stalin's prize (no, smartasses, that means a ****load of money).

Oerdin you are pathetic. The last Doctor Zhivago movie made in Russia in 2005.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGGSzfTezw0

[rah]

I remember my parents taking us to see this in the theater when it was first released. I guess it made quite an impact on me since I took a slew of Russian History classes at College.

But I always thought Battleship Potemkin was considered the Greatest Russian Movie.

[Dinner]

Not to mention the author got a Nobel prize for the book, as well as Stalin's prize (no, smartasses, that means a ****load of money).

Oerdin you are pathetic. The last Doctor Zhivago movie made in Russia in 2005.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGGSzfTezw0

No one cares about the Russian version which got virtually zero play outside of Russia. The definitive version is the epic done in the 1960's which posted huge sales and which is widely regarded as a true classic.

[Dinner]

:cough: Have you ever read or watched Quiet Flows the Don? Not the 2006 miniseries, the lauded 1958 movie.

I've never heard of that one. Is there a place I can get an English language version or at least one with subtitles?

[onodera]

I've never heard of that one. Is there a place I can get an English language version or at least one with subtitles?

Let's see...

http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Flows-Don-Pyotr-Glebov/dp/B000LV6OHQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1263487335&sr=8-5

There's another place, but it's probably against the rules to mention it here, and there are no subtitles included with the movie.

[monolith94]

List of Russian movies that I've seen that are better than Dr. Zhivago:

Battleship Potemkin
By the Law
Andrei Rublev
Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors (ok it's set in the Ukraine but close enough)
The End of St. Petersburg
Strike
Mirror
Ivan's Childhood
The Man With A Movie Camera
War and Peace
The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks
The Red and the White
Earth
The Red Tent
Soy Cuba
The Cranes Are Flying


heck, there are even better movies set in Russia that aren't Russian made. Love and Death being a good example.