They fought for the homeland

Movie
German title	They fought for the homeland
Original title	Они сражались за родину
Country of production	USSR
original language	Russian
Publishing year	1975
length	157 minutes
Rod
Director	Sergei Bondarchuk
script	Sergei Bondarchuk
production	Mosfilm
music	Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov
camera	Vadim Yusov
cut	Yelena Mikhajlova
occupation
Vasily Schukschin : Pyotr Lopachin Vyacheslav Tikhonov : Nikolai Strelzow Sergei Bondarchuk: Ivan Svjaginzew Georgi Burkow : Alexander Kopytowski Yuri Nikulin : Nekrasov, soldier Ivan Lapikov : Poprishchenko, Starschina Nikolai Gubenko : Goloschtschokow, lieutenant Nikolai Volkov : Nikiforov, soldier Andrei Rostozki : Kochetygow, private Nikolai Schutko : Petro Lisitschenko, cook Yevgeny Samoilov : Marchenko Nonna Mordjukowa : Natalja Stepanovna Innokenti Smoktunowski : surgeon Irina Skobzewa : regimental doctor Angelina Stepanova : Old Cossack Tatjana Boschok : Paramedic Lidija Fedosejewa-Schukschina : Glikerija Daniil Iltschenko : Luka Michalytsch Alexei Wanin : Akim Borsych Nikolai Gorlow : Paramedic Gennady Safronov : Chairman Boris Nikiforov : Sumskov, captain Anatoly Pereversev: Chmis Lev Pavlov : standard bearer

They fought for their homeland (original title: Они сражались за родину , Oni sraschalis sa rodinu ) is a Soviet feature film directed by Sergei Bondarchuk from 1975 based on the novel by Mikhail Scholochow from 1960.

action

Soviet Union in July 1942. A rifle regiment of the Red Army is in retreat from the German Wehrmacht through the endless Don Steppe and stops at a Vorwerk . The soldiers took the opportunity to rest, chat and swim in a nearby lake. Two of them catch over a hundred crabs that they now want to cook. All they need is a bucket and some salt, which Pyotr Lopachin wants to get from the farm. But an old woman at first refuses to give him what he wants, as the soldiers let the Germans almost as far as the Don and are unable to stop them. Before the soldier leaves without having achieved anything, she thinks about it differently. While the crabs are cooking, there is a roll call at which the order is given to take a stand nearby, at an intersection, and to hold this position until reinforcements arrive to enable the fleeing civilians and soldiers to make their way to the river .

Already digging of foxholes the soldiers being shot by German reconnaissance aircraft. Shortly afterwards, the entire defense line is attacked by German tanks and the soldiers who followed. This attack can be repulsed, but this is immediately followed by another attack with aircraft, which in turn is followed by the tanks. After these can be fought off again, despite many injured, the regiment withdraws to a strategically better location as far as the Don and immediately digs a trench here . Again it is Pyotr Lopachin who goes to the next farm to get something to eat. He also comes back with two large milk cans, although the residents are already preparing to cross the Don. When he wants to go back to pick up the butter he had promised, there is another air raid. Back in the trenches, he even manages to shoot down a plane, but now the hail of bombs really begins. This was followed by another German attack down the line, which in turn could be repulsed and thereby secured the retreat of the Soviet troops across the Don.

When calm returned, the wounded were collected and operated on. Of the whole regiment, 27 men remain who are able to continue fighting, most of them have fallen. The commander also had to lose his life. However, since the regimental flag is still there, the regiment cannot be disbanded, which continues to break through to its own troops. The film ends with the arrival of new, unused soldiers and technology so that the turning point in World War II can be initiated.

production

The film consists of two parts, but they were always shown one after the other in one performance. The film, shot in color and on 70 mm material, premiered in May 1975 under the title Они сражались за родину at the Oktyabr Film Theater in Moscow and over 40 million viewers in the Soviet Union. The film was shot in the Donsteppe near the chutor (hamlet) Melologowski. During the filming, Vasily Schukschin died of a heart attack . Missing scenes from Lopatin were taken over by Yuri Solovyov . His voice was dubbed in the Russian original by Igor Jefimow .

In the GDR it was shown for the first time on May 23, 1975 as part of the Days of Soviet Film in the Berlin Kino International . The regular screenings opened on November 7th, 1975 in the Kosmos cinema in Berlin . The film was shown on the first program of East German television on February 20, 1977.

criticism

Günter Sobe remarked in the Berliner Zeitung :

“There are scenes of startling urgency and scenes of profound humanity. However, they are most evident not when the screen almost bursts in the fire, but when those soldiers start talking. "

The lexicon of international film described the film as a massive, but pathetic and inconsistent work.

Web links

• They fought for their homeland in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• They fought for the homeland at kino-teatr.ru

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Juri Solowjow: Memory of Schukschin . In: Soviet literature 10/1984, pp. 120 ff.
2. ↑ Neues Deutschland, May 24, 1975, p. 4
3. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of May 28, 1975, p. 6
4. ↑ They fought for the homeland. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 12, 2018 .