TOP FILMS FROM UKRAINE
1. Ballad of a Soldier - Ballada o soldate 1959 Grigori Chukhrai
During World War II, 19 year old soldier Alyosha gets a medal as a reward for a heroic act at the front. Instead of this medal he asks for a few days leave to visit his mother and repair the roof of their home. On the train eastwards he meets Shura who is on her way to her aunt. In those few days traveling together they fall in love.
During World War II, 19 year old soldier Alyosha gets a medal as a reward for a heroic act at the front. Instead of this medal he asks for a few days leave to visit his mother and repair the roof of their home. On the train eastwards he meets Shura who is on her way to her aunt. In those few days traveling together they fall in love.
2. Earth - Zemlya 1930 Alexander Dovzhenko
Dovzhenko's "film poem" style brings to life the collective experience of life for the Ukranian proles, examining natural cycles through his epic montage. He explores life, death, violence, sex, and other issues as they relate to the collective farms. An idealistic vision of the possibilities of Communism made just before Stalinism set in and the Kulack class was liquidated, "Earth" was viewed negatively by many Soviets because of its exploration of death and other dark issues that come with revolution.(IMDB)
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3. Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors - Tini zabutykh predkiv 1964 Sergei Parajanov
In a Carpathian village, Ivan falls in love with Marichka, the daughter of his father's killer. When tragedy befalls her, his grief lasts months; finally he rejoins the colorful life around him, marrying Palagna. She wants children but his mind stays on his lost love. To recapture his attention, Palagna tries sorcery, and in the process comes under the spell of the sorcerer, publicly humiliating Ivan, who then fights the sorcerer. The lively rhythms of village life, the work and the holidays, the pageant and revelry of weddings and funerals, the change of seasons, and nature's beauty give proportion to Ivan's tragedy.
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5. Only Old Men Are Going to Battle - V boy idut odni stariki 1973 Leonid Bykov
A movie about the Great Patriotic War and the life of Soviet war pilots, who died for their motherland.
Dovzhenko's "film poem" style brings to life the collective experience of life for the Ukranian proles, examining natural cycles through his epic montage. He explores life, death, violence, sex, and other issues as they relate to the collective farms. An idealistic vision of the possibilities of Communism made just before Stalinism set in and the Kulack class was liquidated, "Earth" was viewed negatively by many Soviets because of its exploration of death and other dark issues that come with revolution.(IMDB)
Watch It On Youtube
3. Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors - Tini zabutykh predkiv 1964 Sergei Parajanov
In a Carpathian village, Ivan falls in love with Marichka, the daughter of his father's killer. When tragedy befalls her, his grief lasts months; finally he rejoins the colorful life around him, marrying Palagna. She wants children but his mind stays on his lost love. To recapture his attention, Palagna tries sorcery, and in the process comes under the spell of the sorcerer, publicly humiliating Ivan, who then fights the sorcerer. The lively rhythms of village life, the work and the holidays, the pageant and revelry of weddings and funerals, the change of seasons, and nature's beauty give proportion to Ivan's tragedy.
Watch It On Youtube
4. Arsenal 1928 Aleksandr Dovzhenko
The Great War (World War I) has brought devastation, heartache, and hardship to the Ukrainian people. Their soldiers, likewise, have faced horrors from the enemy and threats from their own officers. One recently demobilized Ukrainian solider, Timosh, returns home after surviving a train wreck, and arrives during a celebration of Ukrainian freedom. But Timosh begins to challenge the local authorities, and then, at the All-Ukrainian Congress, he calls for the soviet system to be adopted. In Kiev's Arsenal munitions plant, where Timosh has worked, feelings are running especially high.
The Great War (World War I) has brought devastation, heartache, and hardship to the Ukrainian people. Their soldiers, likewise, have faced horrors from the enemy and threats from their own officers. One recently demobilized Ukrainian solider, Timosh, returns home after surviving a train wreck, and arrives during a celebration of Ukrainian freedom. But Timosh begins to challenge the local authorities, and then, at the All-Ukrainian Congress, he calls for the soviet system to be adopted. In Kiev's Arsenal munitions plant, where Timosh has worked, feelings are running especially high.
5. Only Old Men Are Going to Battle - V boy idut odni stariki 1973 Leonid Bykov
A movie about the Great Patriotic War and the life of Soviet war pilots, who died for their motherland.
6. Everything Is Illuminated 2005 Liev Schreiber
A young Jewish American flies to the Ukraine in search of his grandfather's past. He has a photograph and the name of a village. He hires the Odessa Heritage Tours, made up of a gruff old man and his English-speaking grandson. The three, plus grandfather's deranged dog, travel in an old car from Odessa into Ukraine's heart. Jonathan, the American, is a collector, putting things he finds into small plastic bags, so he will remember. Alex, the interpreter, is an archetypal wild and crazy guy. Alex asks the old man, "Was there anti-Semitism in the Ukraine before the war?" Will they find the village? The past illuminates everything.
A young Jewish American flies to the Ukraine in search of his grandfather's past. He has a photograph and the name of a village. He hires the Odessa Heritage Tours, made up of a gruff old man and his English-speaking grandson. The three, plus grandfather's deranged dog, travel in an old car from Odessa into Ukraine's heart. Jonathan, the American, is a collector, putting things he finds into small plastic bags, so he will remember. Alex, the interpreter, is an archetypal wild and crazy guy. Alex asks the old man, "Was there anti-Semitism in the Ukraine before the war?" Will they find the village? The past illuminates everything.
7. A Driver for Vera - Voditel dlya Very 2004 Pavel Chukhraj
The film is set during 1962 in Sevastopol, Crimea, then a secret Navy Base in the Soviet Union. General Serov (Stupka) hires Viktor (Petrenko), a cadet from the Kremlin Guard to work as his private chauffeur. In a jet-black "ZIM" limo, Viktor is chauffeuring the General's disabled daughter Vera (Babenko). Viktor is oblivious to the hidden agenda of the KGB agent Saveliev (Panin), who manipulates everyone behind the scenes in the old rivalry between the Army and KGB.
The film is set during 1962 in Sevastopol, Crimea, then a secret Navy Base in the Soviet Union. General Serov (Stupka) hires Viktor (Petrenko), a cadet from the Kremlin Guard to work as his private chauffeur. In a jet-black "ZIM" limo, Viktor is chauffeuring the General's disabled daughter Vera (Babenko). Viktor is oblivious to the hidden agenda of the KGB agent Saveliev (Panin), who manipulates everyone behind the scenes in the old rivalry between the Army and KGB.
2 comments:
'Everything is Illuminated' is a US release. Locations do not make a film. Before the Ukraine was separate, films like "Earth" (which is fantastic) were simply 'Russian'.
this movie is Russian .
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