As the ending credits of Burnt by the Sun rolled onto the screen, a single tear also rolled down my right cheek. This film really pulled at my heart strings. By the end, I had forgotten that it was based on historical figures, but the ending reminded me just how pervasive and cruel Stalin’s rule over the Soviet Union. The characters in the film were not just fabricated for the plot but real people that suffered. Like a hot sun in the sky, the revolution did not discriminate when it came to persecution, all victims of its constant siege. The scene with Colonel Kotov and his young daughter, Nadya, stood out to me.
The director uses feet to illustrate the emphasis and need for youth in Stalinist Russia. While caressing his daughter’s soft foot in his own calloused hands and with a hint of sadness in his eyes, Kotov says, “Because we’re building up Soviet power for that… so, that all their lives… people will have feet like yours”. The phrase ‘all their lives’ demonstrates that real Soviet potential can only be attained by young people untainted by the hardships of the revolution and hard life. Those that know only the joys and fruits of the revolution can survive. ‘Building up power for that’ reveals that even the general knows his work and the efforts of other revolutionaries are not meant to celebrate in the country that helped create. They simply serve as steps for those with soft feet to walk on to reach Soviet greatness. Nadya’s young foot at the center of the frame amplifies these sentiments.
I also cried at the end of this film!!! Nadya’s innocence and joy in contact with our knowledge that Kotov was heading to his demise absolutely broke my heart. As you describe, her youth and naïveté symbolizes the ideal future of the Soviet union; people able to fully enjoy their lives because they are unacquainted with deep suffering. This point is emphasized by the fact that we never see Nadya upset ever in the film. Even though we know that she will suffer in the future, her innocence is preserved throughout the extent of the movie.
I think that by using the symbol of feet to intertwine youth and the future of the Soviet Union is incredibly powerful and conveys a sense of hope amongst the tragedy and loss in the film. And Nadia herself is ultimately part of this hopeful future as she lives to see the de-Stalinization of Russia and becomes a teacher. I also think that the idea of youth is made extremely overt through the use of the child running through a field right before the end credits.
I found the focus on youth interesting in the film too. One of the beginning images of a girl singing a delightful song as people dance is roughly cut to a boy yelling that tanks are driving over the wheat fields. This cut in the film caught my eye and I started to think about the focus on the children because Nadia plays such a big role. I can’t really make sense of this but my initial thought is that Stalin’s terror affects all of the population even the youth.
All of you make wonderful comments here on the role of Nadia and of young people in general in this film! I think this allows Mikhalkov (the director and the actor who plays Kotov) to bring into relief the way the Stalinist regime not only shattered lives and families, but also–on a more profound level–ruthlessly destroyed hope, trust, and belief in the ideals of the system. Nadia’s innocence and joy throughout the film really bring this aspect of the betrayal into searing focus, and the scene in the boat that Thando discusses is maybe the most poignant moment, as Nadia’s adoration of her father as both father and Soviet leader fuse into one (the promise of soft feet was actually a feature of propaganda of the time about a “bright Soviet future”). Both her father and her faith in all he represents will be shattered by the film’s end.