Sibiriada (1979)

Director:

Andrei Konchalovsky

Writers:

Valentin Ezhov (writer)
Andrei Konchalovsky (writer)

Release Date:

16 May 1980 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Plot:

The story about a very small god-forgotten village in Siberia reflects the history of Russia from the beginning of the century till early 80s...

Plot Keywords:

Village | Siberia | Oil | Road | Communism

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Natalya Andreychenko	...	Anastasya Solomina
Sergey Shakurov	...	Spiridon Solomin
Vitali Solomin	...	Nikolai Ustyuzhanin
Vladimir Samojlov
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pascal Aubier
Ivan Dmitriyev	...	Blinov
Konstantin Grigoryev
Lyudmila Gurchenko	...	Taya Solomina
Pavel Kadochnikov	...	Eternal Grandfather
Mikhail Kononov	...	Rodion Klimentov
Yelena Koreneva
Yevgeni Leonov-Gladyshev	...	Alesha Ustyuzhanin (as Yevgeni Leonov)
Vladimir Levitan		(as Volodya Levitan)
Nikita Mikhalkov	...	Aleksey Ustyuzhanin
Ruslan Miqaberidze	...	Tofik Rustamov
Maksim Munzuk	...	Fedyka
Igor Okhlupin	...	Philip Solomin
Yevgeni Perov	...	Yerotei Solomin
Leonid Pleshakov
Vladimir Simonov	...	Afanasy Ustyuzhanin
Nikolai Skorobogatov	...	Yermolai
Vadim Vilsky

Also Known As:

Сибириада (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Siberiade (USA)

Runtime:

275 min | Sweden:173 min | USA:206 min | Germany:200 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

German | Russian

Color:

Color (Sovcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Siberia, Russia

Company:

Mosfilm

Movie Connections:

Features Triumph des Willens (1935)

Very impressive, but not surprisingly

I have seen the film a few days back on a video tape and even though it was hard to swallow it at one take (because of its length and story), I liked it very much. I was impressed first, by the script and then, by the realization of this script. The film takes you on a ride, but that is not an easy, joyful ride; it goes through time and different political regimes and shows the influence of them to ordinary people's lives. What I loved was the inner logic the film followed; logic, which just like logic in life, was rather illogical and confusing at times but in the end, when I thought about it, all the events and twists made sense. It makes no sense though to try to re-tell the story as it spreads in more than 50 years of time. I also liked very much Nikita Mikhalkov's character Aleksei and the way he played it, as some critics would saw, with restless abandon. What I didn't like about it, was that I think he later played characters that remind me of Aleksei in films like "Cruel Romance" (Zhestokij romans, which I actually love) and to some extent in "The Insulted and the Injured" ("Unizhennye i oskorblyonnye"). "Sibiriada" shows, I think, what a great film-maker Andrei Konchalovski was before he went to Hollywood and made forgettable films like "Tango and Cash" and less forgettable like "Runaway train". I would prefer "Kurochka Ryaba" to them...