The silent Don (1957, part 1)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The silent Don |
| Original title | Russian Тихий Дон , Tichi Don , engl. Transcription Tikhiy Don |
| Country of production | Soviet Union |
| original language | Russian |
| Publishing year | 1957 |
| length | Part I: 109 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Sergei Gerasimov |
| script | Sergei Gerasimov |
| production | Gorky Film Studio Moscow |
| music | Yuri Levitin |
| camera | Vladimir Rapoport |
| cut | Nina Vasilyeva |
| occupation | |
| |
The silent Don (original title: Russian Тихий Дон , Tichi Don ) is a three-part Soviet film by Sergei Gerasimow from 1957 to 1958. The director also wrote the script. It is based on the novel of the same name by Mikhail Scholokhov . This article deals only with the first part, which was released on March 27, 1959 in the Federal Republic of Germany. The parts 2 and 3 could be the first time in October 1968 at the First German Television ( ARD ) to see.
action
Russia 1913. In the remote Cossack village of Tatarsk, the people live according to their old patriarchal traditions. The young, freedom-loving Cossack Grigori Melechow grew up here. He and his neighbor Axinja are fond of each other, although Axinja - albeit very unhappy - is married to the irascible Stepan Astachow. When the latter is called in for a maneuver, Grigori and Axinja live together as if they were a married couple. Because this happens in front of the eyes of the village community, it cannot be avoided that Stepan Astakhov learns of his wife's infidelity after his return. He then punished her with brutal violence. The friendship of the neighboring Melechow and Astachow families has turned into bitter enmity. Old Melechov decides that his son has to marry the rich and beautiful farmer's daughter Natalja. Grigori complies with his father's will only reluctantly; but the couple remain strangers to one another.
In order to live out their love for each other, Grigori and Axinja secretly flee the village. After a long search, they manage to find work and a new home on Prince Listnizki's estate. Before long, Axinja gives birth to a girl. In 1914 the First World War breaks out and Grigori has to go to the front as a soldier. During his absence, the infant becomes infected with an insidious disease that soon leads to the death of the child. In her great despair and loneliness, Axinja embarks on an adventure with the son of her employer. Meanwhile, Grigori is badly wounded in the war. After a long stay in the hospital, he gets home leave. When he then realizes that his lover has broken her loyalty to him, he mercilessly beats the young prince and returns to his wife in Tatarsk.
criticism
“In 1955-57 Sergei Gerassimow realized the monumental Cossack novel 'The Silent Don' by Scholokhov, an epic one - in the GDR the film was shown as a three-part series with a total duration of 336 minutes, in the Federal Republic only the first part was released brought, parts 2 and 3 found their performance a decade later on the ARD - and extremely ambitious work. Gerassimov's trilogy depicts the fate of a Cossack during the late phase of the declining tsarist empire up to the final victory of Bolshevism in powerful images and fascinating attention to detail. In doing so, the director avoided bold, pro-communist pandering, instead portraying his protagonist as a wanderer between two worlds and their systems forced upon him by history. The new system is not transfigured either, in Gerassimov's epic weakness of character and amorality, as in the novel, is not eliminated by the 'new socialist man'. "
The lexicon of international film draws the following conclusion: "Far from all black and white painting, the film avoids almost as much as the novel" the idealization of the victorious Bolsheviks by exposing the moral and character weaknesses of the communists in particular "(Kindler's Literature Lexicon). The six-hour film, staged with enormous effort, is most convincing in the excellently designed, dialogue-free exterior shots. ”The Protestant film observer also praised himself :“ A drama of passion, which is particularly convincing through the power and abundance of its human images. ”The film evaluation unit Wiesbaden gave the work the title “Valuable”.
source
- Program for the film: Das Neue Film-Programm , published by the publishing house of the same name, Mannheim, No. 4337
continuation
Web links
- Quiet Flows the Don in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Five pictures from the film at Cinema.de