Author Archives: Xander Werkman

Contrast in Scenery in “Window to Paris”

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The two scenes of Nikolai and the other Russian man exploring France and the French woman exploring Russia contrasted each other. Nikolai and the other Russia man opened the window to a bright sun, beautiful stores and cheerful people. They had a lovely time exploring France once they figured out that the window was magic. There was no horrid events or grouse things to see. When the French woman was locket out of her portal to France, she walked out into a beaten down, dark city that she was not expecting. She was greeted with men peeing in public and a woman who promised to warm her up but stole all of she clothes instead. The troubles that she faced stood out in the film because of such a happy time the Russian men had in France. This contrast emphasized the rough going that Russia was having. Also, all of this stood out when Nikolai was trying to convince the kids to come back to Russia. Telling that Russia is not in the best shape but they need to try and fix it.

I thought it was interesting that music got the attention of a certain group of people and made the group follow the leader of the music. In the beginning of the film, the band lead the crowd waiting for vodka away from the liquor store. There were many scenes of Nikolai grabbing the attention of his kids with music from his flute. I thought this was an interesting theme and was worth noting.

Interviews of Anna

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The documentary, Anna, is different from anything that we have watched this year. I thought the use of youth in the documentary through the interviews of Anna and the children’s speeches resembled the use of youth Burnt by the Sun. I think the different in answers to the questions as Anna got older was inevitable but very interesting. The first time she was interviewed, she gave very childish answers of being most scared of a witch. The next time she is interviewed, the idea of being scared to answer the question right and being unlike everyone else came up. The next interview she expressed concern for the state and economy as the political situation has influenced her to worry about these issues. Also, the film of the masses in large theaters shows the unity of the people and is a parallel to these interviews. Some of these images are of young children chanting that they are committed and loyal to the motherland. I struck me how young the people are started on obeying the motherland. This film gave a very interesting parallel of the youth in Russia to the political and larger issues in Russia.

I would also like the point out that Nikita Mikhalkov took the time the tell how hard it was to film and make a documentary in that time. All of the people working on the film were putting their lives in great risk due to the policies of art. I thought it was very interesting that he pointed this out in his documentary.

The Calm vs Terror in “Burnt by the Sun”

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In “Burnt by the Sun,” there were many calm, peaceful scenes that juxtaposed the theme of terror in the film. The first scene where this appears was on of the first scenes in the film. The scene of the child singing an elegant song is roughly cut to a child running from tanks of the soviet army. This scene displayed foreshadowing of this theme in the rest of the film. Furthermore, the urgency of the gas drill with everyone frantically running to put gas masks on is contrasted by the peaceful image of Sergei and Nadya floating on a river in silence and peace.  The contrast in these scenes related to the overall theme of the film. The calm, peaceful life of the great General Kotov, a well respected and powerful general in the army, seems to be protected from the terror that has been created by Stalin. After all, Sergei can stop many tanks with strict orders from driving across wheat fields. He is ultimately not safe from the Secret police. The Final calm scene is Sergei in his dressing room staring at a picture of him and Stalin, a trusted companion. Sergei even has Stalin’s direct line. Overall, theses scenes show that no one is safe from the terror of Stalin and his rule. 

Simplicity in Stories by Zoshchenko

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The stories, “The Housing Crisis” and “Poverty” by Zoshchenko, had a very simple style to identify problems in Russian society. In “The Housing Crisis,” it seemed as if a bathroom was plenty for a family with a child to comfortably live. I thought it was funny when the wife was talking about putting a partition, boudoir, and dining room all in one bathroom. The addition of members to the family and obstacles to the living situation came so easily. As these obstacles appeared, the living space of the man decreased more and more. This indicated the hardship of the living space in Moscow if someone progressed in their life by marrying and having a child. Also, the ease of the hardship that finally made the man leave the bathroom emphasized the pain of living in such a small space. In “Poverty,” something so simple as light indicated the poverty in the mansion. The extra light exposed the bedbugs, stains and rips in the furniture and walls. The landlady did not have the money to pay clean up her room so she cut the wiring in the building. In these two stories, the simplicity of events that occurred emphasized the meaning of the story. The hardship of the housing was displayed the addition of obstacles that limited the space of the man. The simplicity of light showing the dirtiness of the rooms indicated poverty.

“Battleship Potemkin”

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I found the “Battleship Potemkin” intriguing in the way that the dialogue was presented. Usually, I do not stay interested in silent films or non speech films. Although, as the film progressed I started to read the body language which is done to any silent film and noticed presentation of dialogue. The way in which the dialogue was shown, black background with big white letters, placed emphasis on the speech. The dialogue was also emphasized because there was less dialogue shown than was actually being said through the movement of lips. The emphasis on the speech in the play kept me intrigued in the film and the overall plot.

Another part of the film that I found very interesting was the scene of the town of Odessa gathering and walking to the pier. I noticed that there was a lot of film focused on the town walking of stairs and pathways together. These were powerful images that emphasized the unity of the town. These images were paralleled to when the public were chased by Russian soldiers. The child shot in cold blood, stroller rolling down the stair without a mother, and overall terror of the people were images focused on. These images indicated the breaking of the unity that was shown in the previous scenes.

Overall, “Battleship Potemkin” had great film work and amazing scenes that are all essential to the film.

Alexander Benois’s “The Bronze Horseman”

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The works of the Symbolist Art in Russia were very intriguing because there were so many styles used in the works assigned. The use of vibrant colors, cubism, and depictions of beautiful landscape contributed to the variety of works. Although, the illustrations of Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman, caught my eye because we read it earlier in class.

There are three illustrations of “The Bronze Horseman” by Benois that similarly display the themes of Pushkin’s story. First, the bronze horseman in the illustrations is depicted much larger than Yevgeny and seems oversized in the image. This represents the Russian state and the power it possesses. Second, there is a storm in every image showing the natural disaster theme of the story. Third, the symbols of black and white signify the love and death in the story. Yevgeny looses the love of his life and in turn this leads him down a path to his death.

The 1904 illustration seems to be distinct from the other two due to the simplicity of the work. Yevgeny and the Bronze Horseman are the only parts of the illustration with fine detail. Also this illustration is set right at the start of the chase whereas the other two depict Yevgeny being chased by the horseman.  The last illustration also stood out to me due to the coloring while still having the contrast between light and dark colors. I would be interested to know when this work was composed because it has the most detail with the shadows and sun. I couldn’t figure out the symbol of the sun. What does the sun symbolize and how do the shadows contribute to that?

Prisoner of the Mountains

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In Prisoner of the Mountains, the songs and whistling made the film similar to other war films. The whistling as the Russian soldiers were pictured in their camp and riding in their tanks was a classic depiction of soldiers in general. The whistling reminded me of ww1 and ww2 films as the soldiers usually whistled during the downtime of war. Similarly, the children singing as the film overviewed the mountain village. The song makes the village seem innocent with the young voices of the children singing. I pictured the village as more of a small, innocent community through these songs. These aspects gave the film commonality to other war films.

With the songs and whistling in the film, we would expect a common ending to a prisoner of war film. Either the prisoners would break out of the captivity or they would make friends with the people of the mountain village. Although, this film gave a Russian twist by having an unexpected ending in fairly traditional scenery, music, and sound of a war story. I did not expect Abdul to let Vanya go at the end of the film and immediately after Russian helicopters appear to go destroy the mountain village. Overall, I enjoyed the film as a whole because of the unexpected ending and the mix of themes within the war story.

Russian Painting

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Focus on the subjects in portraits is an obvious aspect of this style of painting. Although in these Russian paintings, I saw that there was a major difference in the painting style of the subject and the setting. The subject(s) have a very real depiction with lots of attention to detail. The detail given almost makes the subject look out of place in the setting due to the difference in style. I found that Karl Briullov’s portraits, “The Rider,” “Portrait of the Poet Alexei Tolstoy in His Youth,” and “Portrait of Maria Bek and Her Daughter,” showed the major difference in his painting style and lighting between the subject and the setting. I found this particularly interesting because Karl Briullov’s portraits are the only portraits with a setting in the background. The other Artist’s portraits have a plain or a very simplistic background.

One painting I found interesting was “Spring, Poland” by Alexei Venetsianov. The peasant is looking at a young child, who I think is the wealthy families child. The child is playing happily and seems to be enjoying life. The gaze of the peasant seems to present envy to the Childs freedom. The line of grass splitting the fields of the working peasant and the grassy area of the child furthers the contrast between the free child and the labored peasant. The painting is depicting the daily life of a peasant but also displaying the peasant’s envy of a free life.

Russian Fairytales

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The way the three fairytales, The Frog Tsarevna, Tsarevich Ivan and Grey Wolf and Vasilisa the Beautiful, are told emphasizes the legend and mythical themes. The repeated saying of “whether a long time passed or a little no one knows” was consistent in the three fairytales. This saying did not add to the plot of the stories or add to the character development. It made the stories feel like myths and legends. Emphasizing that nobody really knows if this happened or not. Giving the reader an emphasis on the theme of the story through the narrative structure. Also the narrative structure hinting at the type of story being told.

The important role of the Grey Wolf in the fairytale, Tsarevich Ivan and Grey Wolf, was unexpected and eluded to the importance of trust in a relationship. A Grey Wolf is not usually portrayed as a good character in most fairytales such as The Three Little Pigs. So, I was not expecting the relationship between Tsarevich Ivan and Grey Wolf to be trust worthy. Tsarevich Ivan trusted the Grey Wolf many times to carry out tremendous deeds. This is all after the Grey Wolf ate Ivan’s horse. The role of the Grey Wolf was important to help Ivan through many challenges and wrongdoings. The relationship between the Grey wolf and Ivan was displaying the importance of trust.