Who is Alexandra Parkhomenko? An ordinary revolutionary, an ordinary red commander. There were thousands like him.
What was his role in the Civil War? Ordinary. Look at the biography of most military commanders of the Red Army, and you will not see anything special there: he commanded troops on such and such a front, participated in such and such operations. A military man's job is to fight.
The personal qualities of this Parkomen? Man as man. There are no perfect people.
He lived for himself, did his work as best he could and as he understood, and never would have thought that his humble persona would be so sublime and idealized in twenty years. I even once had a book of the fifties, where a small text in Ukrainian, with pictures, was written a detailed biography of this man.
People always needed heroes. And movie heroes, too. Under Stalin, here, the participants of the civil war were in great demand.
Identifying the hero was very easy. You haven't tarnished your reputation with conflicts with Soviet power, you're already a hero. He died in battle, a hero worthy of worship. So began in the heyday of Soviet cinema to appear like mushrooms after the rain, Chapaev, Shchorsy, Kotovsky, Parkhomenki, and the like.
If Parkhomenko had not died in 1919, he would have been shot in 1938 (if he had lived). And he would not have been a hero then and would not have dedicated a film to him.
There is no question of historical authenticity in the film at all, and I put three points. For the enthusiasm and songs that have gone to the people.
3 out of 10