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MovieMail's Review
Stanislav Rostotsky's adaptation of Boris Vasilyev's novel proves to be an innovative wartime epic, as David Parkinson rediscovers this unfairly forgotten Oscar nominee from the 1970s.
Stanislav Rostotsky's adaptation of Boris Vasilyev's acclaimed novel, The Dawns Here Are Quiet, deserved a better fate than to be utterly forgotten after being beaten to the 1973 Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film by Luis Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.
However, its revival by the Russian Cinema Council in a fine two-disc edition reveals this sincere and occasionally innovative epic to be as poignant an account of the sacrifices made by ordinary citizens in the Great Patriotic War as Mikhail Kalatazov's The Cranes Are Flying (1957) and Grigori Chukrai's Ballad of a Soldier (1959).
Sergeant Andrei Martynov is initially dismayed at being placed in charge of an all-female anti-aircraft unit in the Finnish border region of Karelia in 1941. However, when gunner Irina Shevchuk spots Germans in the forest, Martynov quickly comes to respect the courage and resourcefulness of the five volunteers who accompany him on a reconnaissance mission that turns into a desperate rearguard after they discover that the invasion force numbers 16 rather than two.
Periodically switching from gritty monochrome to stylised colour, Rostotsky deftly sketches the backstories of Shevchuk's single mother, Yelena Drapeko's naive farm girl, Yekaterina Markova's lonely orphan, Irina Dolganova's Jewish scholar and Olga Ostroumova's disgraced city hussy without resorting to the cliché and caricature that undermined so many Hollywood combat pictures.
But, while these reveries explain what each woman is fighting for, they lack the immediacy and tension of the forest sequences, as Martynov attempts to delay the Nazi advance until reinforcements arrive. Indeed, this action feels closer in tone to Andrei Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood (1962) and Elem Klimov's Come and See (1985) than the standard Socialist Realist celebration of patriotic fervour over fascist barbarism.
Consequently, while The Dawns Here Are Quiet is primarily propagandist in purpose, it's also a compelling human drama and a thoughtful piece of film-making, with Vyacheslav Shumsky's contrasting visuals and Kirill Molchanov's stirring score reinforcing both Rostotsky's exemplary use of his woodland locations and the spirited playing of Martynov and his unlikely heroines
Cast - Andrei Martynov, Yelena Drapeko, Yekaterina Markova
DVD Details
Certificate:
12
Publisher:
BIA
Region:
2
Length:
157 mins
Cat No:
BIA0001
Format:
DVD Colour
Subtitles:
English
DVD Extras
2 discs
"Woman's War" documentary
Interviews with actresses Irina Shevchuk, Yelena Drapeko, Yekaterina Markova.
Film Description
Although Oscar-nominated, the Russian World War Two drama The Dawns Here Are Quiet is a little-known realistic war film that deserves wider exposure. It is based on the book by Boris Vasilyev.
In a railway station in Karelia in North West Russia, Senior Sergeant Vaskov (Andrei Martynov) is located away from the front line with a team of female anti-aircraft gunners. Conflicts arise between Vaskov, the only man, and the five women. However, when German paratroopers threaten to impair military facilities, the six fighters must come together to win a crucial battle.
