Burnt by the Sun (1995)
Russia, 1936: revolutionary hero Colonel Kotov is spending an idyllic summer in his dacha with his young wife and six-year-old daughter Nadia and other assorted family and friends. Things change dramatically with the unheralded arrival of Cousin Dmitri from Moscow, who charms the women and little Nadia with his games and pianistic bravura. But Kotov isn't fooled: this is the time of Stalin's repression, with telephone calls in the middle of the night spelling doom - and he knows that Dmitri isn't paying a social call...
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In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.
An attempt to show how an ordinary Russian family in the 1930's could be affected by the Stalinist purge of its head; this is certainly a worthwhile goal. But the movie is full of eccentric people, full of sadistic gaiety in the face of what is coming, and is very tedious to watch. I think it is largely a failure and I did not enjoy it one bit.
Russia, 1936: revolutionary hero Colonel Kotov is spending an idyllic summer in his dacha with his young wife and six-year-old daughter Nadia and other assorted family and friends. Things change dramatically with the unheralded arrival of Cousin Dmitri from Moscow, who charms the women and little Nadia with his games and pianistic bravura.Russian history is strange, especially for Americans. Was the end of the monarchy a good thing? How about the rise of Lenin? Or the takeover from Stalin? Depending on who you believe, any of these three could be heroes or demons. This film is set during the rise of Stalin, still a few years off from World War II.How accurate it is, I do not know. But it seems like a nice time to be a Russian. Perhaps even better than today (2015). Or maybe just a good time to be an important military figure.
The Russia under Stalin was a fascinating world, full of repression and murder. Many wanted to leave and did so, but many remained because they did not have any choice.Was it going to improve over many years? It never did. Soviet Russia stayed oppressive throughout the Communist era. Althghough Soviets achieved a lot, they disregarded human life on the small level. It finally went crumbling down like a house of cards, but it took more then 70 years.This film portrays well Stalin*s purges. Similar purges are conducted today in North Korea, although Russia has a Slav soul, there was a little bit of humanity left even during those times. Nazi Germany was looming in the dark, Stalin was suffering from paranoia. What a film set, and used so well to make this film. Stronglly recommended.
Finally KGB colonel Mihalkov shows his real face !In this awful movie, we see a good (!?!?) Bolshevik colonel, in... 1936 !Since 1933 till 1936, only in Ukraine, more than THREE MILLIONS died by starvation, because of these 'good' or bad Bolsheviks ! How many of the Russian elite died in the so called 'revolution' and the years that follows ? Ten millions ? 15 ? 20 millions ?How many Baltics, Moldavians, Caucasians or central Asia people died in Siberia camps, Ural or Arctic mines ? How many hundreds thousands of land workers, engineers, teachers, lawyers ?All the high Bolsheviks were bloody criminals, without exception, starting with Lenin, Trotski or Stalin.See also their children: Mao, Kim Ir Sen, Fidel, Ceausescu, Enver Hodja, Pol Pot etc etc.Try 2 serious movies about the reds: Soviet Story, 2008 or Katyn, 2007.