Childhood, such a childhood... Unworthily forgotten by modernity, the film masterfully opens before us the autobiography of Maxim Gorky.
Scary. A terrible childhood was in Alesha Peshkov, one of thousands of boys who grew up in poverty under the heavy fist of his father, grandfather or master before the abolition of serfdom.
It is terrible that cruelty echoes love. In one scene, grandfather Kashirin beats his grandmother and Alyosha, in another, his grandfather and his grandson are taught the alphabet in an embrace. It's considered normal. Grandfather beats his grandchildren and prays to the Virgin, calmly says to his atrocities: “Didn’t I get beaten?” Billy. A cousin laughs at the fights of relatives, and then whines as he is put... And when Alyosha openly tells her grandmother that she is tired of tolerating her grandfather, the grandmother looks at her grandson with surprised eyes. Scary.
And how wonderful are the scenes of Alyosha’s friendship with local boys, where there is no violence, cruelty, poverty is not visible.
Old and young actors played well. It should be noted a beautiful live game performed by Alexei Lyarsky (Alyosha Peshkov) and Mikhail Troyanovsky (grandfather Kashirin). However, for the role of a little Leosha Lyarsky too adult - the actor here is 15 years old, when as a hero was at that time 9-11 years old.
10 out of 10