Curse the war! In the name of love!

Lea 2022-03-23 09:03:04

Subjective, daring, and beautiful camera language, the perfect soundtrack, and the heart-wrenching plot make this film a beautiful prose poem that curses war and celebrates the flow of steadfast love. People have to feel that the former Soviet Union is the country of a great poet like Pushkin after all.
Without this brutal war, Boris might live happily ever after with his "little squirrel". His brother Mark didn't get a chance to "jump in" either. But I don't think Mark should be interpreted as the villain in the movie, at least he is in love with Veronika, isn't "blindness" also a feature of love? With regard to Mark's role as a "deserter" in the movie, I think everyone has to ask themselves, who at this juncture of life and death will definitely unwaveringly choose the fate of possible death. Mark isn't a badass, he's just a grey figure.
Finally, two wordy movie details. This film is quite valuable in some places (especially considering that the film was shot in the ideologically strong former Soviet Union, salute to the director!) The film depicts a group of "privileged classes" who were drunk in the war, thanks to Kalatozishvili, let We know that the former Soviet Union still had this character.
It's easy to say "dedicate your life to defend the motherland", but when the person who will give his life is your lover or your child, how do you choose? The film depicts people's hesitation in detail, which adds to the humanistic atmosphere of the film.

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Extended Reading
  • Barrett 2022-03-28 09:01:11

    This movie is a poem. The breathtaking movement of mirrors, light and shadow, and editing endow the film with a sense of rhythm, creating the "big strings are noisy like rain, small strings are like whispers. For example, when the heroine returns home, she sees a pair of pendulums swaying on the ruins of a broken bell ("Bingquan is cold and astringent"), so she covers her ears ("Condensation will never pass the sound and pause for a while"), "At this time. Silent is better than sound", not to mention the blown-up passages of sacrifice, loss, suicide, farewell, etc. Such a sense of rhythm is ultimately about lyricism - the level of emotional nuance of the characters in this film pales all language, so the technics (movements, lighting, editing) add (similar) elements of music and dance to the entire narrative. PS I (contrary to the mainstream opinion in Guiban) think the ending is good. The heroine's mental journey is also the epitome of war: she has to face not only death and chaos, but also reconstruction on the ruins. In this sense, it is a very atmospheric treatment for the heroine to stop at licking the wound at the end.

  • Stanford 2022-03-19 09:01:08

    Karatozov's masterpiece of poetry and film, 1958 Cannes Palme d'Or. 1. A large number of difficult and high-speed sports long shots, the camera seems to grow wings, smart and active, and business is full of business: when sending off and welcoming soldiers, the camera follows Veronica among the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd; Boris rushes to one. Stairs. 2. Two sets of slow or fast montages: the subjective shot of Boris's death (revolving birch forest) + running up the stairs + overlapping images of the wedding celebration and the white gauze bride; Veronica has multiple occasions when running wild A high-speed follow-up camera set (side shot-passing railings, overhead shot-fast flashing branches above your head, overhead shot-fast shoes) + imaginary scenes of suicide by jumping on the rails. 3. The main editing logic of the film: from the inside to the outside, from the small scene to the big scene, from the part to the whole, the same is true for the sports long lens. This unconventional sequence of scene presentation strengthens the suspense and revealing effect. 4. The "rising" movement throughout the film (the ending scene is also the case) has become a metaphorical motif-from the individual to the world, from the individual to the group. 5. A bird's-eye view of the two on a deserted street; the lights flickered and lost virginity in the house during the bombing. (9.0/10)

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!