Odna - Alone

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Movie
German title Odna - Alone
Original title Одна
Country of production Soviet Union / Russia
original language Russian
Publishing year 1931
length 2,250 meters / 90 minutes
Rod
Director Grigori Kosinzew and Leonid Trauberg
script Leonid Trauberg
production Soyuskino / Lenfilm
music Dmitri Shostakovich
camera Andrei Moskvin
occupation

Odna - Alone ( Russian Одна / German: Alone) is a Soviet silent film that Grigori Kosinzew and Leonid Trauberg made based on a script by Trauberg between 1928 and 1931 for the state film company Sojuskino / Lenfilm . Andrei Moskwin drew for the photography , Yevgeny Jenej created the stage design, and the sound engineer was Ilya Wolk. Still started as a silent film, Odna came to the cinemas in 1931, provided with dialogue parts, noises and symphonic music that Dmitri Shostakovich had written specially. The composer himself worked as a piano player in cinemas at the beginning of his career.

The film drama from 1931 is "the politically highly committed fictionalization of a contemporary newspaper article about a teacher who was found half frozen in the snow and only survived thanks to a courageous rescue operation in an airplane".

action

The young teacher Jelena has just passed her exams and is hoping for a job in her hometown Leningrad , where she would like to live with her fiancé Petya. The Soviet state, however, has other plans for her: she should teach the inhabitants of the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia to read and write. But these are still mostly sheep-breeding nomads who follow a shamanistic religion and cannot do much with the new “socialist order”.

At first she tries to avoid this mission, but then gives in and travels. When she arrived in the village, she was initially shocked by the primitiveness in which its residents still live. In order to fulfill her mission, she enforces compulsory schooling for the children and advocates the advantages of Soviet politics. With this, however, she met the resistance of the still powerful kulaks , the large landowners. When the poor peasants are exploited, they join forces with the corrupt village elder.

When Jelena finds out that one of the kulaks, with the consent of the village elder, wants to thread a fraudulent maneuver in his favor, she intervenes and is literally "sent into the desert" by the powerful peasants, where a storm surprises and traps her. A plane sent from headquarters in Leningrad saves her life when she needs medical treatment.

background

Filming began in 1929; The film was shot in Leningrad and the Altai region in what is now Kazakhstan . The film was already finished in 1930 when it was decided to add at least noises and some dialogue parts and thus to rework it into a sound film or "sounding silent film".

The script addresses numerous current political issues during the first five-year plan (1928–1932): educating the rural population, eliminating the kulaks, and introducing advanced technology.

Dmitri Shostakovich composed the original music as op. 26; although controversial, it became one of his most suggestive film scores.

The first performance took place on October 10, 1931 in Leningrad. Odna also ran in the United States , where it premiered in 1932. In Germany, Holland and France , the film was only shown after 2003.

The penultimate act of the film is lost .

reception

The unorthodox film initially became a great success internationally. After the mid-1930s, however, because Stalin's bureaucrats suspected it had “culturally pessimistic tendencies”, it was taken out of the lending business again.

“As was common in the Soviet cinema of that time, 'Odna' had to submit to the ideology and the current policy of the central office. Specifically, it was about showing how communism civilizes the savages, how anti-revolutionary forces and large landowners have to be eliminated, and how the collectivization of agriculture brings advantages. ”('Marco' at molodeshnaja.com)

“At first glance, 'Odna' looks like a naive propaganda film. The film, however, is much more complex, because it is by no means an idealization of the socialist system, but rather a very personal drama, which also a swipe at the negative, systemic excesses, here in the figure of the lazy and corrupt village soviet , hands out. [...]

The mixture of silent and sound films seems a little unusual, after all, there are intertitles and soundtracks here, but it has its own charm. The film's idea of ​​a socialist awakening is obvious, because the system not only brings technical progress, but also education, even in the most remote areas. […] For a long time, Jelena fought on her own against all opposition, some of which was nourished by the system, but in the end she was saved by the technical achievements that made this new system tangible and only got through their commitment proved their system loyalty. "(splashmovies.de/rezensions)

“Today 'Alone' is counted among the most beautiful and moving works of the silent film era. In its time, however, the film was not very lucky, the criticism of the state and the communist utopia was too obvious. Not only is the chairman of the village council on the kulak's side for the sake of convenience, but the film also contains many small symbols that are unnoticed by today's audiences, but at that time meant the end of the public screening. For example, the official, shown only from behind, who sends the far too young and inexperienced graduate from the institute to deepest Siberia, is Lenin's widow Krupskaya. The association is clear: Lenin's legacy is a faceless, bureaucratic state detached from the people. In the mid-thirties it disappeared in the poison cupboard just because of its »culture-pessimistic tendency«. "

“Of all the Russian (propaganda) silent films I know, 'Odna' is the only one in which a human fate is at the center (and not a tractor, a warship or the idea of ​​socialism), but it seems really made of flesh and blood but not to be this teacher Jelena. In any case, I could not really take part in her experiences; In retrospect, I also don't know what special character traits to assign to her. The motives for their actions remained in the dark for me. Only at the end does it become clear: it should convey the socialist message of a beautiful life through progress. In the end, the focus is suddenly no longer on her, but on an airplane that was sent by the state to save her life. Salvation through technical progress in socialism. "(Gabelingeber July 22, 2010)

On the original music by Dmitri Shostakovich:

"Just as extraordinary music with a sophisticated set of instruments: Shostakovich uses a large orchestra and singers, overtone singing, organ and theremin , an electromagnetic instrument that was used here for the first time in a film." (Hr-online.de)

“One of the first Soviet sound films in which the music of Dmitri Shostakovich braces passages, emphasizes leitmotifs and places emphasis. Dialogue is just one element among others in the sound-music-image-speech symphony, the desired perfection of which is only lacking in the still little developed sound technology… 'Odna' […] marks Leonid Trauberg and Grigori Kozintsev's departure from "eccentricity "and the search for a new realistic film language." (film.at)

“The film shows the big city in moving images and quick cuts; long, calm attitudes characterize the traditional, immobile village society in the Altai. Shostakovich's music for orchestra, choir and soloists underlines this contrast. Waltz, polka and gallop, often orchestrated in a shrill style, increase into a real ecstasy of happiness at the beginning. They can be heard again later, when Elena remembers the city. In the Altai, dark colors predominate: endless lines of the bassoon and clarinet suggest vastness and at the same time hopelessness. The solo oboe and violent gestures of the orchestra stand for the false friendliness of the patriarch and the brutality lurking behind it. ”(Alfred Ziltener in: ProgrammZeitung Basel 2006)

"Shostakovich only partially ties in with the weird and garish early style practiced in Das neue Babylon , rather he tries out extremely sparingly orchestrated elegiac background music for the location of the film plot in the steppe and also tries to capture the variety of characters shown in sounds . Here the young Shostakovich anticipates Bernard Herrmann: '[...] a simple, deep flute solo, the tapping of a bass drum or the tones of cautious horns [can] often do more than just playing half a hundred musicians. [...] '"(Cinema' Capitol 'Schwerin)

On the history of Shostakovich music:

In a German bombing raid on Leningrad , parts of the film and the score were destroyed in the fire at the Lenfilm Studios in 1941.

“In 1995 excerpts from the music for 'Odna' were recorded. But it was not until 2003 that Mark Fitz-Gerald, the active English film music specialist, was able to restore the entire score with the help of Irina Shostakovich using a preserved copy of the soundtrack ... "

“In the 1960s, the Soviet Russian large film fund [sic] restored the film, some of it is definitely lost. The initiative to restore music came from the Dutch Foundation Film in Concert a few years ago. The basis for this was formed by the surviving parts of the score and a Russian recording from 1931. Together with the musicologists Theodore van Houten and Nic Raine and with the help of the Polish Shostakovich student Krzysztof Meyer, the conductor Mark Fitz-Gerald arranged the new edition. In April of last year, the first performance of film and music after 1935 took place in Den Bosch in the Netherlands . ”(Alfred Ziltener in: ProgrammZeitung Basel 2006)

The Basler Zeitung wrote about the premiere with the reconstructed original music on April 12, 2003 in the Theater aan de Parade , Den Bosch:

»The ODNA experiment succeeded on a highly professional level, far exceeded the expectation of a> documentary <performance. Apart from the historical explosiveness of the material, a submerged, highly appealing form of musical theater was made accessible (...) extremely exemplary. "

Re-performance:

Odna was broadcast by the Arte cultural channel on November 19, 2004 at 12:20 am on German television in a through the Staatl. Russian Film Archive Gosfilmofond restored version and broadcast with the reconstructed original music by Dmitri Shostakovich. The performers were the Ensemble Basel Sinfonietta and the Chamber Choir Notabene. The recording of the reconstructed original music was a co-production by Basel Sinfonietta, Schweizer Fernsehen / Rundfunk DRS, ZDF in collaboration with ARTE and the Dutch Foundation 'Film in Concert' .

The restored version of the film was released on DVD in 2004 with the reconstructed original music in cooperation with ZDF and ARTE. It was published on DVD in the 'Arte Edition' by ›absolut Medien‹.

literature

  • Hélène Bernatchez: Shostakovich and the Factory of the Eccentric Actor (= Forum Musicology. Volume 2). Martin Meidenbauer Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-89975-589-8 , pp. 1-2.
  • Erik Daumann: Filming in the five-year plan. May 16, 2008. (online at: magazin.klassik.com )
  • Film Museum: Cinema Revolution. Part 2: The Russian Film 1929–1938. Austrian Film Museum 2014. (online at: filmmuseum.at )
  • Jörg Gehrle: Review of the film Odna. In: film service. No. 23 of November 11, 2004. (online at: arte.tv )
  • Jan Kästel: Dmitrij Šostakovič (1906–1975). Part 1: The years 1929–1940. In: Kiel contributions to film music research. 4, 2010, pp. 213-217. (online at: filmmusik.uni-kiel.de )
  • Cinema 'Capitol' Schwerin: “Between government control and practiced art: The (film) composer Dmitri Shostakovich”. (online at: das-capitol.de )
  • Werner Loll: "From Bach to Offenbach". On the influence of Shostakovich's exploration of film music on his symphonic work. In: Kiel contributions to film music research. 1, 2008, pp. 128-159. (online at: filmmusik.uni-kiel.de )
  • Sal Pichireddu: The full score for the silent film "Odna". (USSR, 1929-31) (CD; Naxos), discussed in “Der Schallplattenmann says” January 28, 2008. (online at: schallplattenmann.de )
  • Oksana Sarkisova: Border Projections - Images of border areas in Soviet film. In: Karl Kaser (Ed.): Europe and the borders in the head. Wieser, Vienna et al. 2003, ISBN 3-85129-511-0 , p. 459 f. (PDF on: uni-klu.ac.at )
  • Aurel Schmidt: basel sinfonietta and the reconstruction of a cinematic masterpiece. In: onlinereports.ch of February 6, 2008. (online at: onlinereports.ch )
  • Sikorski News Archive: The silent film classic “Odna” with the restored music by Shostakovich will be premiered in Holland and France. April 2003. (online at: sikorski.de )
  • Sonja Vogel: Gender and Film - About gender iconography in Soviet and Russian cinema. Grin Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-640-24426-3 , p. 20.
  • Alfred Ziltener: The Sinfonietta shows the long-lost film “Odna” and plays the reconstructed film music by Dmitri Shostakovich live. In: ProgrammZeitung Basel. 2006 (online at: programmzeitung.ch )

Web links

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Illustrations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Loll: "From Bach to Offenbach". On the influence of Shostakovich's exploration of film music on his symphonic work. In: Kiel contributions to film music research. 1, 2008, pp. 128-159; and Kino 'Capitol' Schwerin: Shostakovich discovered his love for the cinema early on; by the end of 1923 he was already working as a silent film pianist .
  2. ↑ cf. Jörg Gehrle: Odna - Alone. The review of the film, on arte-tv 18/11/04, and Sarkisowa: Grenzprojektionen, p. 459.
  3. ↑ a detailed table of contents in the translator logbook 2008.
  4. ↑ cf. Translator's logbook 2008: "... afterwards some pictures were underlaid with noises (alarm clock, typewriter) or off-screen voices (telephone conversation, dictating officer) and some dialogues with solo singing" .
  5. ↑ a b cf. Daumann 2008.
  6. ↑ "... had become key areas of politics and are critically discussed in the film" , cf. Daumann 2008.
  7. ↑ universaledition.com
  8. ↑ cf. Kino 'Capitol' Schwerin: “But Shostakovich only partially underpins what is pointing towards the future in the music-dramatic concept: the psychological approach in the film scoring; the lonely, thoughtful sounds of landscapes and loneliness are at the same time reflections of the main character's soul landscapes ... "
  9. ↑ cf. Odna (alone) on film.at: The penultimate act and a third of the Shostakovich music were lost in the bombing of the German Wehrmacht (HT, Filmmuseum) and Erik Daumann in 2008: During the siege of Leningrad, parts of the score were also lost.
  10. ↑ cf. Carsten-Stephan v. Bothmer, Odna (alone) on stummfilmkonzerte.de, translator logbook March 17, 2008.
  11. ↑ Dmitrij Schostakowitsch · Odna (alone) on hr-online
  12. ↑ cf. Odna (alone) on film.at
  13. ↑ cf. translator logbook 2008.
  14. ↑ quoted here. According to Odna-Alone ( memento of the original from January 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on buch24.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.buch24.de
  15. ↑ Odna ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on arte.tv @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  16. ↑ DVD 5, codefree, PAL, b / w, 4: 3, 90 min. + 36 min. Extras, Dolby Stereo, Russian OV with German, English and Dutch subtitles. Order no .: 868, ISBN 3-89848-868-3 [1]