A lullaby

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Movie
German title A lullaby
Original title Колыбельная
Country of production USSR ( Moldovan SSR )
original language Russian
Publishing year 1960
length 95 minutes
Rod
Director Mikhail Kalik
script Avenir Sak
Issai Kuznetsov
production Moldova film
music David Fedow
camera Vadim Derbenev
cut Mikhail Kalik
occupation

A lullaby , also lullaby (original title: Колыбельная , Kolybelnaja ) is a Soviet feature film directed by Mikhail Kalik from 1960 .

action

The pilot Dmitri Ivanovich Lossew lands in his plane from Moscow in Chișinău and goes to the airport duty officer to hand in an athlete's passport that was left on the plane. He also registers immediately and when asked for his personal data, he states that he was born on June 22, 1941 in Ciocana in the house where he was born. When the pilot hears this, he speaks to the young man and tells him that it would not be possible because the clinic was bombed on the first day of the German-Soviet war and everyone died, including his wife and newborn daughter. But the encounter with the young man gives Lossew reason enough to go in search of his daughter, whom they named Aurika. During one of his next flights to Moscow, he visits various offices until a clerk confirmed to him that there is at least one girl left who survived the air strike.

While Dmitri Ivanovich visits the adoptive parents of this girl, thoughts go back to what happened back then. The birth house is hit by bombs, but a passing wounded sergeant on his way to a hospital hears children screaming from the house and discovers several babies still alive. Back on the road, he tries to stop one of the fully loaded trucks fleeing the attack to save the small children. The car of the city archives, which is supposed to bring the most important things to safety, only stops at gunpoint. Without further ado, a large part of the load is thrown down and the seven newborns are safely placed in the pull-out drawers of the cupboards. In the next town the soldier tries to get help from the Komsomol and can leave the children there. Only one baby wants to keep the archivist's granddaughter, pretends to be hers and takes it with her on the further journey. On the way, the truck is shot at by low-flying aircraft, the young woman dies, but the child survives.

In another letter, Lossew receives the news that a girl lived in a children's home until 10 years ago, which he goes to immediately. Here an educator tells him that the girl's name was Aurika, showed Lossew her bed and a drawing of her and tells about the past: In 1947 or 1948 the home gets a new director and the first child, which he meets on the premises, is Aurika. She says that this is her name, although everyone calls her only Rika, because there is no other name. When the director confirms that he does exist and that he means “golden”, he has found a new friend. But she is very sad that she has no parents and is jealous because the director is there for all children. During a flood of the nearby river, she brought a pot of hot tea to the workers who were building a dam there in the middle of the night and made many friends again. When the director is transferred to another home, she is very sad again, but quickly finds access to the woman she wants to bring home from the home.

First, Lossew drives to the adoptive parents of the girl, who was originally assumed to be his daughter, and explains to them that their daughter is out of the question as his child, which makes her very happy. Then he drives to the couple who brought Aurika out of the home. But the girl has not been there for 1 ½ years and looking back also explains why: Rika was accepted into a house where she is only used, has to work all day and then also to sell the things. One day she sees the former director of her children's home at the train station, but does not reveal herself. When she comes home he is still there and is about to leave. She rejects his request to accompany him to the train, as he is only passing through, as she expects trouble from the stepparents. It appeared that they were only taking the girl out of the home to replace the labor of their son who had died in the war, as the daughter-in-law could not do the work on her own. One winter day, when she wants to sell things at the train station again, several young men come to her to buy something. They say that they are going to Siberia to work and that Rika should come along because there would certainly be something to do for them. After a short thought, she jumps onto the train that is already moving and starts a new life.

Lossew sets out for Siberia and by chance finds a young woman who knows a girl from Moldova , but who doesn't speak the language. So he finds his way to Aurika, who has been working as a nurse there for two years, is in love and wants to get married. So the young man who once persuaded her to come to Siberia brings her to the train station with her future husband Pavel. During the drive he explains to her that she has found a man who is nothing wrong with, but who also has no soul. On the way the car has a flat tire and Rika seeks protection in a nearby house. Here she meets a crying toddler and a helpless mother who can no longer help herself. Rika decides not to take the train straight away, but first to take the child to the infirmary, which her boyfriend does not want. She is so disappointed with so much heartlessness that she stops an oncoming off-road vehicle that takes her away. Dmitri Ivanovich Lossew, who meets his daughter Aurika here, is already sitting in it, while Pavel continues to drive to the train station.

Production and publication

The black and white film had its world premiere on April 25, 1960 in the Soviet Union and had over 28.8 million viewers there. The film premiered in the GDR on December 23, 1960 under the title A Lullaby in the Babylon cinema in Berlin . In German Television there was the first broadcast on November 3 1,961th

criticism

Heinz Hofmann wrote about this film in Neues Deutschland :

“The precise rhythm, the poetic order of the scenes, which is true to measure, emphasizes the true and the beautiful, saying what is necessary in bold optical solutions. In this way, fate after fate is wrested from the twilight and combined into a picture. "

The lexicon of international films writes that this is a thematically appealing drama, but the flashbacks and abundance of characters often cause the narrative rhythm to stall.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ New Germany of December 24, 1960, p. 4
  2. ↑ A lullaby. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 19, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used