1. The “must-watch” films about the Great Patriotic War
The memory of the Great Patriotic War is
particularly venerated in Russia. It’s hard to
find a family in our country which didn’t lose
somebody who fought for the victory in that
awful war. Veterans who could tell about the war die.
A big chasm in time obliterates the memory of the war.
That’s why it is so important that many films about the
Great Patriotic War were and are released to shape the
memory of Russian history and war for the new generation
of Russian viewers.
The presentation is made by the English teacher Kiseleva Irene,
Yaroslavl region, Poshekhonye, 2017

2. Here’s a list of some Russian films about the Great
Patriotic War. Say what films you have already
watched; what films you would like to watch.
Try to give the Russian equivalents.
The Cranes are Flying
Destiny of a Man
Ballad of a Soldier
Father of a Soldier
The Dawns Here are Quiet
Trial of the Road
Only Old Men are Going to Battle
They Fought for Their Country
The Ascent
Come and See
The Cuckoo
Burnt by the Sun
The Brest Fortress
Stalingrad
The Battle for Sevastopol

3. 1. The Cranes are Flying (1957)
Director: Mikhail Kalatozov.
Starring: Tatyana Samoylova,
Aleksey Batalov. The film is
based on the play by Victor
Rozov “Forever Alive”.
It’s an emotional story about
love that was put to the test
of war. The film won numerous
awards. Among them –
the prize at the Cannes IFF,
the Palme d'Or « Золотая
пальмовая ветвь» (1958).

4. 2. The Alive and the Dead (1963)
Director: Alexander Stolper
Cast: O.Efremov, A. Papanov,
k. Lavrov and others.
The film takes place in a
time warp from the first
days of the War and until
the middle of the winter of
, before the
beginning of the Soviet
counterattack near
Moscow. Ivan Sintsov as a
war correspondent
becomes a witness to the
difficult events of the
first months of the war.

5. 3. Liberation (1970-1971) Director: Yuri Ozerov
Starring : Nikolay Olyalin
Larisa Golubkina
Boris Seidenberg.
The film focuses on five
major Eastern Front
campaigns:
the Battle of Kursk,
the Lower Dnieper
Offensive, Operation
Bagration, the Vistula-Oder
Offensive, and the
Battle of Berlin.

6. 4. The Trial on the Road ( 1971) Director: Aleksey German
Starring: Rolan Bykov,
Anatoly Solonitsyn,
Vladimir Zamansky.
The film is based on a
story by the director's
father, Yuri German.
The screenplay was
written by Eduard Volodarski.
The film takes an approach
to the usage of concepts
such as “patriotism,
” “hero,” and “traitor”.

7. 5. Hot Snow (1972) Director: G. Yegiazarov. Cast: A. Kuznetsov as
Vesnin; G. Zhzhonov
as General Bessonov.
In December 1942, the
soldiers of a Red Army
anti-tank gun battery
face the attack of
German armored
divisions trying to
relieve the besieged
6th Army in Stalingrad.
Only seven of our
soldiers survive, but
German tank
breakthrough is
stopped. The film is a
screen adaptation of
Yuri Bondarev's 1969
novel.

8. 6. The Dawns Here are Quiet (1972)
Director : Stanislav Rostotsky
Andrey Martynov
as Senior Sergeant Vaskov
Yelena Drapeko
as Lisa Britschkina
Yekaterina Markova
as Galya Chetvertak
Olga Ostroumova
as Zhenya Komelkova
Irina Shevchuk
as Rita Osyanina
Irina Dolganova
as Sonia Gurvich
Lyudmila Zajtseva
as Sergeant Kiryanova
Alla Meshcheryakova
as Maria Nikiforovna.
The film is based on Boris
Vasilyev's novel of the
same name and focuses
on a garrison of Russian female
soldiers in the war.

9. 7. They Fought for Their Country (1975)
The film is directed by Sergei
Bondarchuk.
Cast:
Vasily Shukshin
Vyacheslav Tikhonov
Sergei Bondarchuk
Georgi Burkov
Yuri Nikulin
Ivan Lapikov
Nikolai Gubenko
Andrei Rostotski.
The film concentrates on the remnants of one shattered regiment and its individual soldiers’ thoughts and fears in the face of impending annihilation – of both themselves and Russia itself.

10. 8. The Brest Fortress (“Fortress of War”) (2010)
Director: Aleksandr Kott
Stars: Aleksey Kopashov,
Andrey Merzlikin,
Pavel Derevyanko and
others.
War drama set during
the Nazi invasion of the
Soviet Union in June
1941, in which Soviet
troops held on to
a border stronghold for
nine days.

11. 9. Stalingrad (2013) Director: Fedor Bondarchuk
Starring: Pyotr Fyodorov,
Dmitriy Lysenkov, Alexey
Barabash , Andrey Smolyakov
and others.
It was the first Russian movie
completely produced with
IMAX 3D technology. The
story follows soldiers who
struggle with retaining their
humanity in the face of
certain death and the
unspeakable horrors of war.

12. 10. Panfilov’s 28 Men ( 2016) Directors: Kim Druzhinin and
Andrey Shalopa.
Cast: Yakov Kucherevskiy,
Aleksey Morozov,
Sergey Agafonov,
Aleksandr Ustyugov and
others.
It is a film about Soviet
heroes describing the battle
near Dubosekovo, which
went down in history as the
deed of Panfilov's 28 men".

13. Exercise1
Some of these films are based on literary works . Match the film and the work. There is one odd film. 1. The Cranes are Flying. A. M. Sholokhov’s novel 2. Hot Snow. B. B. Vasilyev’s story 3. They Fought for their Country. C. Y. Bondarev’s novel 4. Liberation D. V. Rosov’s play 5. The Dawns Here are Quiet. E. K. Simonov’s novel 6. The Alive and the Dead.

14. Exercise 2
Here are statements about the films we are talking about. Name the film.
The Senior Sergeant Vaskov is unexpectedly assigned a group of young female anti-aircraft gunners in a railway station far from the front line. _______________
The film is based on Bondarev's own wartime experience as a battery commander in Stalingrad. ____________________
The film focuses on Veronika, who has seen her boyfriend Boris off to the front and who deals with the hardships the war causes at home. ________________
The film was released for the 30th anniversary of the Great Victory. __________
The film was released in September 2013 in Volgograd ._________________
It is a film series. ___________________
The premiere of the film took place in Volokolamsk in 16 November 2016._______
The film makers claim that the plot follows the events as close as possible to historical fact, and that the Memorial Complex supervised the plot thoroughly. _________________
In the film Kirill Lavrov plays the role of Ivan Sintsov, a war correspondent.___________
The film was shot in 1971, but was banned for 15 years. _____________________

15. Exercise 3
From the films on the presentation choose a film you haven’t seen and ask questions about:
the director
the cast
the plot
the subject matter
the setting
the time when the action takes place
the events

16. Resources:
www. wikipedia.org
www. russianartandculture.ru