Cinema
Road to Life
Путёвка в жизнь
Nikolai Ekk · 1931
Synopsis
In 1923, thousands of abandoned children live in the streets of the big cities, on theft and expedients. After a raid in Moscow, the educator Sergeyev proposes not to send them to prison but to gather them in a labour commune, where they will learn a trade. He settles a band of kids, among them Mustafa and Kolka, in a colony in the countryside, gradually wins their trust and has them build a railway line to the town.
Context
Produced by Mezhrabpomfilm, the film was written by the director with Regina Yanushkevich and Alexander Stolper, and the Cinémathèque française links it to the pedagogy of Anton Makarenko. Nikolai Batalov plays the educator Sergeyev, Ivan Kyrla Mustafa, Mikhail Dzhagofarov Kolka and Mikhail Zharov the gang leader Zhigan. At the Venice Film Festival in 1932, Ekk received the prize for the most convincing director.
Who it is for
A sound film of about an hour and a half, both educational and adventurous, accessible to a young audience.
Prizes and reception
Sound arrives with it in Soviet fiction cinema; its director was awarded a prize in Venice.
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