Cinema
The Cranes Are Flying
Летят журавли
Mikhail Kalatozov · 1957
Synopsis
Moscow, 22 June 1941. At dawn, Veronika and Boris watch the migrating birds pass over the city, then each goes home. A few hours later, Germany invades the country. Boris enlists and leaves for the front without her having been able to see him again, leaving her a birthday present in which he has slipped a note. She remains alone in a city under bombardment, with Mark, Boris's cousin, who has avoided conscription.
Context
The film is based on Viktor Rozov's play, “Eternally Alive”, which he adapted himself. The shooting took place during the Thaw, a period when Soviet censorship briefly relaxed, and the result showed a war without glory and an unfaithful woman without condemning her, which was new. The cinematographer Sergei Urusevsky had a circular hand-held camera mounted on rails built for the crowd scenes, and makeshift lifts for the high-angle shots; these devices were studied abroad. The music is by Mieczysław Weinberg. More than twenty-eight million spectators saw it in the Soviet Union.
Who it is for
A long film, in Russian with subtitles. It is worth knowing that the camera movements are its most commented feature, and that they carry almost everything the dialogue does not say.
Prizes and reception
Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1958, the only Soviet film to have received it, along with a special mention for performance and the Prize of the Commission supérieure technique.