I still believe...

Mireille 2022-03-21 09:03:00

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War, Channel 1 re-screened "Yan Nanfei" on May 8, 2020

"Flying Wild Goose" is my current favorite Soviet drama/war/romance movie. It may be an exaggeration to say this, because as a romance drama lover who doesn’t watch serious movies very much, I don’t watch enough movies. But that doesn't stop me from liking this story, which may not be hearty enough for now, but is sincere and moving. Karnatotsov's restrained and avant-garde camera language has endless aftertastes. For more than an hour and a half, the story line is clear and clear, without a nesting doll narrative, it is profound and to the point. Thanks to the director for not committing big drags, splattering dog blood, endless foreshadowing, and failure to stop the brakes after a war like some of his peers.

"Yan Nanfei" is an art film rather than an official documentary, so we can find thousands of faces in the war in various details. In peacetime, Boris and Veronica were ordinary young people, doing ordinary jobs, talking about ordinary love, and having ordinary dreams. The advent of war made ordinary life an unattainable luxury, and countless people lost their shelter overnight. Both the front and the rear have become a large-scale testing ground for human nature. Dedication, hesitation, greed, selfishness... No one can escape. Apart from Boris and Veronica, the two characters that impressed me the most in the movie were Boris' father, the hospital director, and Marc, an artistic young man who was forced to marry. The dean holds valuable medical resources and personal connections, but he did not refuse to hand over his precious son for the motherland. Mark, who did not go to the front line, took possession of Boris's life, and Veronica's slap in the thunder and lightning was the most powerful whip against him.

The war caused Veronica to suffer the most unknown pain. Victory Day finally came, and the photo of her lover on her chest made Veronica accept the fact she had never been able to confirm amid the cheers of the crowd in the square. The light in Boris's eyes remained in the birch forest forever. The geese lined up and flew around. Veronica distributed the bouquet in her hand to the people around her. She also completed the transformation of a girl from self to self-knowledge.

I read a lot of controversy about the ending of the film, but I don't think it's a scramble and kitsch of a collectivist discourse, and the Palme d'Or can't decide whether "Flying Wild Goose" is for propaganda or for art. I want to see Veronica cheer up and hope she stays strong. I still believe that there is nothing "unspeakable" about the most common and beautiful human emotions.

Copyright 2020 by Lake Mies. All Rights Reserved.

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Extended Reading
  • Elda 2022-04-22 07:01:48

    #2020 Russian Masters Exhibition. Amidst the chaotic farewell to the frontline fighters, the Slavs burst into tears when the farewell march was played, but not for being cheered. She said her watch was going fast, with two rapid, amplified ticks, the first being parting with Boris, and the second being back at her bomb-devastated home, with only the clock still standing. Tried to drown out the piano playing of the air raid sirens but in vain. They walked through broken glass in Russia, and front-line soldiers walked through mud in Ukraine. No one can survive the war alone. The birch trees that Boris saw before he died turned into a stairway where he chased Veronica, into a fantasy wedding shrouded in tulle, and finally the spinning trees, he fell. When the Slavs farewell march played again, the war was over, and there was a chaotic reunion of joy. Veronica saw the battleship-like geese flying over again, sending flowers to everyone around them one by one. The lens language is really God, not only photography, but also light, shadow, sound... After reflection, I found that I may have some kind of hobby for running lenses? Free to organize a bean column?

  • Keanu 2022-03-24 09:03:20

    #ArchivePhoto#4K restores classic, delicate poetic movies. The black-and-white photography is pleasing to the eye and unique. The use of light and shadow has reached the perfect level. The slanted and irregular composition, the close-up of the faces of the characters that are constantly approaching, and the scenes switch freely and quickly... This shows the artistic skills of director Mikhail Kalatozov. Regardless of the photographic composition or the overall style, the more I see it on the big screen, the more I feel that it is quite similar to "I Am Cuba" (it turned out to be the same director). In this love tragedy that makes people want to cry without tears, the impermanence of war and the unreasonableness of life are intertwined and entangled, but the audience's attention has always been on the heroine, and they are deeply impressed by the natural beauty of Tatyana Samojlova. The most impressive part of the whole film is that she sends flowers to find a lover at the end of the film. She desperately doesn't know who to give the flowers to, so she has to give it to everyone who returns. People celebrate the new life with friendship and friendship, and happiness should belong to everyone who is kind and pure It may take time for her soul to recover, but the transformation from small love to human love has actually proved the victory of human nature.

The Cranes Are Flying quotes

  • [first lines]

    Boris: Wait, squirrel! Here. Put it on.

  • Fyodor Ivanovich: Stop it this minute! You're a still a soldier in the Red Army! Are you trying to get discharged? Are you afraid we'll heal your hands and send you back to the front?

    A patient in the infirmary: No, Doctor, he's not like that. He got a letter.

    Fyodor Ivanovich: I know. That's just an excuse. Big deal! So your bride ran off. You should be glad! She isn't worth a penny if she would trade a handsome guy like you, a real hero, for some rat sitting out the war at home! It's she who's forfeit her happiness, not you! And that's what she deserves. She's got a petty soul. People like her can't understand how much suffering we've gone through. You stood up to death itself. You looked death in the face. You approached it with your chest stuck out. And she couldn't even pass the little test of time. Woman like her deserve only your contempt. There can be no forgiveness for them!