Queridos camaradas

When I popped the DVD into the player, I had no clue what I was in for. The Soviet Union was always devoid of those products of decadent capitalist morality — serial killers, dissidents, drug addicts, or strikes. So, even in Novocherkassk in 1962, there were no strikes, no one got killed, injured, or locked up, and anyone who says otherwise might end up in somebody else's grave. The plot of the film didn't exactly bring me joy (I'm not that twisted), but the way the creators translated the events into moving pictures was fantastic. The movie grabbed me right from the start, keeping me 'glued' to the screen throughout. When it ended, I couldn't believe two hours had flown by. It's a raw and gritty affair, excellently shot, with Julia Vysotskaya delivering an absolutely brilliant performance. (04.06.2022)

Even if no one told me, I'd guess the movie was made by an eighty-five year old director. It feels schoolboyish, the camera is locked in this kind of digital greyness, making it impossible for any illusion of the time to click. That's partly because most of the people in it are played as if they're from the Sklep Theatre, and as if the film is afraid of the fact that the protagonist is a Stalinist Bolshevik, so most of the villains are portrayed with the sensitivity of the Black Barons. The film is thus not the much-needed introspection of a confused and corrupt regime, but a simple anti-communist pamphlet, which was matched by the audience's affectedly heroic reactions at certain points in the film. (14.08.2021)