On the surface, Colonel Serghei Petrovich Kotov seems quite a likable guy: gregarious, kind, dignified, a war hero, an affectionate father, a devoted husband, he loves people, hard work, his family, his country. He believes he is participating to the building of a great new Russia, by actively supporting a new regime: communism. Like many of the original idealists who believed communism was the answer to a society plagued by severe income disparity, a large impoverished population, and a decaying aristocracy, he turned a blind eye when injustice and cruelty became the tools for building the great motherland, and people were abused and killed in the name of The People. In his blind credulity, he thinks he has achieved the position and power he holds through good, honest work, and he actually believes the patriotic slogans and mantras used by Stalin's regime to pummel the population into communist indoctrination. Since his life is good, he has no reason to think the regime is wrong.
Enter Dimitri, a self-loathing informer. His work gets other people killed, or destroys their lives. He does it to avoid death, life in a Siberian gulag, or some other horrible fate. What he does goes against everything he stands for, but, as we learn, he believed that by cooperating he would redeem himself in the eyes of the authorities (as an aristocrat he was automatically considered an enemy, guilty of existing) and would be allowed to go back to his life and the woman he loved. Once he realizes there is no way out, and that his sweetheart (Marusia) abandoned him by marrying Kotov, the man whom he holds responsible for his miserable fate, he loses hope. His psychological death complete, all he has left is to commit his physical one. Yet, there's one more thing keeping Dimitri alive: his quest for revenge. He wanted to show Marusia how wrong she was to give up on him, and to destroy Kotov and force him to face himself and the monstrous world he helped build. Dimitri's position as a highly regarded informer provided him with the chance of giving Kotov (a man who once was friends with Stalin himself and unaware that he was now quickly falling out of grace with the fickle leader) the final blow. Dimitri's quest for revenge allows him no scruples about what his actions would do to others, like little Nadya, or her mother Marusia whom he loved and who was only a victim of Kotov's deceit. In the end, Dimitri's suffering turned him from victim into monster: this time he doesn't do the job only because he has to, but because he wants to do it, and, in the process, he is willing to hurt innocent people.
Besides the artistic excellence of this film, what is amazing is its capability of presenting the multifaceted aspects of human nature, good and bad intertwined with all the gray areas, and how blind faith and deep suffering can destroy someone and ruin a world. Among many other things, this film is a great character study; it depicts two "could have been decent" men who became monsters, one blinded by his beliefs, the other tortured into it. They are both victims of the world they were a part of, both "burnt by the sun of the revolution".
As the conflict between Kotov, Dimitri and Marusia develops, we watch it intertwined with regular life - people working, loving, playing, believing in ethics, morals, truth, the future. I think this is a film that talks about how a totalitarian regime is built not only through lies, terror and coercion, but also by silence, half truths, compromise and complacency. It is a memento for any society, communist or otherwise.
There is a moment in the film, after Kotov is arrested by the NKVD, as a result of Dimitri's informing, when Kotov is convinced that once his detainers realize who he was they would release him with apologies, but he soon discovers how wrong he was. As he endures the humiliation and beating in the car, he slowly understands the reality of the world he helped building. He begins to weep, then sob, and one can almost see what goes through his mind: shock, regret, shame, despair.
My comments only scratch the surface of this piece of great cinema. It would take many pages to do this film justice. The screenplay, the acting, the incredible cinematography, the masterful directing of every frame, all crafted this film into a masterpiece.
Enter Dimitri, a self-loathing informer. His work gets other people killed, or destroys their lives. He does it to avoid death, life in a Siberian gulag, or some other horrible fate. What he does goes against everything he stands for, but, as we learn, he believed that by cooperating he would redeem himself in the eyes of the authorities (as an aristocrat he was automatically considered an enemy, guilty of existing) and would be allowed to go back to his life and the woman he loved. Once he realizes there is no way out, and that his sweetheart (Marusia) abandoned him by marrying Kotov, the man whom he holds responsible for his miserable fate, he loses hope. His psychological death complete, all he has left is to commit his physical one. Yet, there's one more thing keeping Dimitri alive: his quest for revenge. He wanted to show Marusia how wrong she was to give up on him, and to destroy Kotov and force him to face himself and the monstrous world he helped build. Dimitri's position as a highly regarded informer provided him with the chance of giving Kotov (a man who once was friends with Stalin himself and unaware that he was now quickly falling out of grace with the fickle leader) the final blow. Dimitri's quest for revenge allows him no scruples about what his actions would do to others, like little Nadya, or her mother Marusia whom he loved and who was only a victim of Kotov's deceit. In the end, Dimitri's suffering turned him from victim into monster: this time he doesn't do the job only because he has to, but because he wants to do it, and, in the process, he is willing to hurt innocent people.
Besides the artistic excellence of this film, what is amazing is its capability of presenting the multifaceted aspects of human nature, good and bad intertwined with all the gray areas, and how blind faith and deep suffering can destroy someone and ruin a world. Among many other things, this film is a great character study; it depicts two "could have been decent" men who became monsters, one blinded by his beliefs, the other tortured into it. They are both victims of the world they were a part of, both "burnt by the sun of the revolution".
As the conflict between Kotov, Dimitri and Marusia develops, we watch it intertwined with regular life - people working, loving, playing, believing in ethics, morals, truth, the future. I think this is a film that talks about how a totalitarian regime is built not only through lies, terror and coercion, but also by silence, half truths, compromise and complacency. It is a memento for any society, communist or otherwise.
There is a moment in the film, after Kotov is arrested by the NKVD, as a result of Dimitri's informing, when Kotov is convinced that once his detainers realize who he was they would release him with apologies, but he soon discovers how wrong he was. As he endures the humiliation and beating in the car, he slowly understands the reality of the world he helped building. He begins to weep, then sob, and one can almost see what goes through his mind: shock, regret, shame, despair.
My comments only scratch the surface of this piece of great cinema. It would take many pages to do this film justice. The screenplay, the acting, the incredible cinematography, the masterful directing of every frame, all crafted this film into a masterpiece.