Tunguska semi-tundra of the 1950s. Geologists are looking for something. But their mysterious deaths are slowing things down. . .
Somewhere in the U.S., it would have turned out to be a mystical thriller or survival thriller with a love triangle (and so it turned out, by the way, with the thriller On the Brink). But we are in the USSR... The evil spirit of Yambuya is the amazing thing that offers at least three interpretations of history for the modern viewer.
The first, obvious to the finale, is the confrontation between man and nature, in which there are no limits for the first. And in this case, the story of Yambuya becomes a tracker detective, where reason and will must defeat force... let’s consider the elements and fear. This was the basis of Soviet humanism and faith in progress, which are not obvious at all.
The second interpretation is about the imbalance in the world of man-nature, in which the Tungus have existed (survived) for centuries. And this special harmony appears as an alternative to the Soviet material world, which has invaded its vast limits.
The third interpretation, despite the first two, still leaves room for mysticism - after all, about two-thirds of the picture it dominated me as a spectator. And despite the denouement, there is a feeling that nature has left too much unknown for man and in the battle with it he will still lose. She still has a lot of cards left. Only one of them was defeated in Yambuya. . .
And despite the fact that the themes are actively echoed with the Siberia, which has appeared somewhere parallel, the Evil spirit of Yambuya looks at the Tunguska forest tundra even wider - Konchalovsky looked from history and the great Russian soul, and Yambuy - from Siberia itself, which in it is not only not Russian, but even not quite Tunguska.
Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts. Struggles, strifes, strifes. From contact with Soviet classics. 1977 is about 1949. Laconic, without special effects, with a dozen, no more, rifle shots, and the spectacle is fascinating. The story is told vividly, fascinatingly, with arrangements. A mixture of genres in streams one to another. From thriller to horror, with adventure marking drama.
Calm down, buddy, calm down!
We've got everything ahead of us.
Let the spire of the night bell tower
The trouble is picking up in the chest -
Don’t confuse end and end.
The sunrises are like before.
Your brute is not the reason,
Just a step for you.
Taiga. A completely different environment. Quite different laws. You understand yourself. You recognize yourself. What are you in this world? Worm or personality? Able to carry the weight of an unexpected burden on your shoulders like this, suddenly falling, falling? Won't you moan? Can I get a slack? Tired, they say. Why me? Let the others puff up. Fighting yourself tirelessly. Every day. Sporing and pulling the panicking self, in constant control of the whining, aching. Something happened to someone, put on undried shoes and on the way. Sweater, then smelly, roasted smoke smoky, under the heater - and search. You should. The other way is, there's no way. You always! You're a string and a whip. There's a lot of people here. Who if not you?
According to these worn-out steps,
For grief, separation, tears
Come, burying impatience
In the wind-washed eyes.
I saw the night visions.
At the North Mountain Paperty,
We are the stars of the forest.
On the black eyes of lakes.
'The Evil Spirit of Yambuya' begins with this. The expedition batch is winding down. Rest looms with the benefits of an early meeting with civilization. One more step, one more or two and tents, backpacks, bonfires can be forgotten. Money calculated on the pocket and forgive the mosquito gnat, stony couch pastels, speedboats, day heat with the night cold in ridicule, lack of household goods and other things... Oh, how I walk... how I rest ' to the fullest '. Yeah, yeah. That's right.
But not fate. A watchman has gone missing at Yambuya. This is the second case in this square. Panic. 'Refuseniks' The number is growing. Fear drives people. To dispel the fog of the mystery decides the senior party. Just yourself. Get back. Come back. There, from where yesterday, a many-kilometer walk with reindeer, he came with a group. Don't murmur. And don't goose. You don’t give yourself a break.
There are no investigators. There's no police here. By bit, comparing one with another, you need to gain understanding. You're in trouble? Are you a hindrance to the brigands? Maybe the beast did. At the same time, the Tungus (they are Evenki) talk about the evil spirit of this bad place. And arguments, arguments are weighty - people cannot know everything. Not much...
Before the viewer a fascinating intrigue in events, faces. Turning around in the midst of wild, endless nature. Here bears growl, watchdog dogs bark, lynx, scrutinizes, sable hurries in cares, fox seeks delicacy. A fairy tale for adults. The bike that happened.
I saw the movie first, and then, 50 years later, I read the story. Knowing the content of the story on the film, I was not very worried about surveyors. But the film horrified the viewer from the skillfully created tension on the screen. In the book, in the absence of a video sequence, this is achieved in other ways, but in the film it is more terrifying. The film became a cultural phenomenon, and the story is just a good book.
Recently, I was advised to watch this film, extremely excited about it. After a long weekend, I decided to see what the older generation liked. I was not disappointed.
Musical accompaniment from the first minutes keeps in suspense and does not let you relax for a moment. Stunningly beautiful wild places in eastern Siberia are fascinating. An impassable, eerie, deserted, silent forest, where any noise, even a bird, frightens, swamps, dangerous mountains, wild animals, and there are plenty of them: nimble sables, furry foxes, powerful bears, a variety of birds and fang wolves. By the way, the shooting was conducted in the vicinity of the village in the area of Yakutia, which gives credibility. Nature in general plays the most important role in this picture: a person must be on guard every minute and fight for his survival. And then there are terrible events that began to happen with the expedition of surveyors: people disappear without a trace. No trace of it! The enemy is cunning, dangerous and very clever. The plot twists famously, now the participants of the expedition begin to suspect “their own”. And then a local tribe of Evenks appears, who only add fuel to the fire, telling the legend of an evil forest spirit who is dissatisfied. Interesting and unusual (some of them generally shock unprepared) way of the tribe, their thinking, communication, traditions. Excellent performance of actors and ordinary Evenks (evenki just play themselves) once again speaks in favor of the film. Many unexpected moments to perceive.
The film was shot in 1977 and is based on the book of the same name. I think it's amazing that he, for all his unusualness, was able to get lost among others and not become popular. However, the award found its hero: the Jack London Award for Best Feature Film at the IFF Arctic Films in Dieppe, France.
It is impossible to describe a movie without spoilers, they are there at every turn. In this film, the older generation can remember the taiga romance, gatherings at the fires, the youth will clearly see all the hardships of life in the North. Mysticism, mystery, horror, emotional tension, the feeling that someone is constantly watching you, the way of life of another people – all this and much more can be discovered in the film. I advise everyone.
What Pandora, what navi?! East Siberian Evenki - that's the topic!
Private Badokov (evenk), my future grandfather, during the Great Patriotic War - honestly, as a colleague to a colleague: "Ha-ha-ha, what Evenk house?! Evenk taiga walked, the squirrel’s eye beat, and you ask where Evenk’s house!
People of the middle generation are familiar with a film with such a politically incorrect and religious name for the Soviet era, which does not believe in sleep or choch – “The Evil Spirit of Yambuya”, in their youth associated with something exceedingly daring, defiant, almost rebellious. No feats of Leninists and the everyday labor of the proletarians – instead, the wild forest tundra of those backyards of the Union, where the few local residents deeply care what power is in Moscow, and the word “Moscow” itself says nothing to anyone. Well, unless some clever natives venture to assume that Moscow is a far, far country of Russians, where everyone has many, many deer.
No, seriously: there is a reason to remember such a movie to our fathers and grandfathers – is it a joke, during it any action movie, horror or western of domestic production inevitably rustled the Soviet masses not spoiled by Western things? And here, among other things, there is even a scene of people eating the most natural bear veggies - and this is even before the release of the infamous Italian mountain (gore - it is in Africa, that is, in South America, a mountain, bitter fuel that is) "Holocaust of cannibals"! If “The Evil Spirit of Yambuya” were created not in “Evil Empire”, but in God-fearing Italy, as “The Holocaust of Cannibals” (where, however hard it may be to believe, nothing died during filming – only a couple of reptiles like snakes and turtles), then the director “green” would definitely be killed – for the fact that, together with the Evenki extras, the actors savored the mischutkin skull; for the fact that the cameraman snatched the footage, like a couple of the best civilets with kniki kniki kniki knives, the best knives with knives! But that's it! The elder of the Evenki tribe has no ears, and the matriarch with knowledge explains to the Russians: they say, would get lost in the deep snow, like him, — also probably would not disdain to satisfy hunger with their own ears or some other protruding part of the body, I would live! In a word, the Soviet horror film is such a horror movie that it is not necessary to show anything, the very atmosphere and vocabulary of the film will wipe the nose of most Western horror films with the most relevant special effects!
Of course, it wasn't without blunders. For example, if you know where the notorious Yambui tract is located, then it becomes clear that the Evenks should actually be in place. But in the end, it is only the Evens and Evenks themselves that easily distinguish each other, and the Russians, even the most educated, confuse them all the time. So, in Matera, if you believe the Siberian writer Valentin Rasputin, there lived one "Tunguska", and fellow villagers jokingly called her "your Evenka", but after all, "Tungus" are Evenki (man - Evenk, wife - Evenkika), and for Evens (Even and Evenka, respectively) a synonym for a completely different - "Lamute"! But what claims to the film crew, if the performers of the main roles of the Evenks, Olga Enzak and Rodna Yeshonov, are Tuvans at all?! And filmed - not in the area of the Priokhotsk ridges (where the real Yambuy is located), but in some Yakut camp Evenki! Say thank you that at least in the extras actually filmed Evenki (so these preschoolers, not able to read in spirit, but perfectly manage with deer, in fact, the children of Evenki, and the rest of the actors do not have to be the ones they play, but only have to play well, and here they play well, although they are not very famous actors. )
So this is a really powerful movie for its time. Although a clear anachronism for the beginning of the XXI century, able only to attract the interest of nostalgic citizens of a non-existent state and their children, for some reason distracted from gadgets and satellite TV and turned to comprehending the realities of the East Siberian hinterland!
Or an anachronism? Think for a second, has the life of such places as Yambuy changed so much since the autumn of 1949, when Russian cartographers and Evenki (even, Yakut, ... – it should be emphasized) hunters entered into battle with the monster that protected these virgin places from the onslaught of civilization? . .
Why am I going? Who needs this fight? ... I'm a stranger here, we're not equal. But only let fear take hold of you, retreat, you will never force yourself to meet the danger.
The film takes place in the post-war years. The place of action is Eastern Siberia, where a geodetic expedition is sent to compile the first topographic map of the area. The task was urgent, on the orders of Stalin himself (and then try to refuse, it was even scary to imagine). The expedition almost coped with the task and the participants were already planning to return, but suddenly the group receives information that the observer V. Efimenko disappeared on the Yambuy Mountain. The search did not give results, and this is the second such case. Under the threat of disrupting the expedition and the lives of the participants, an investigation into these strange disappearances begins. This is the beginning of a beautiful Soviet film. Throughout time, the beauty of eastern Siberia is striking, these alluring and frightening uninhabited places where nature reigns, and man struggles for survival. Also, the film shows the life of the indigenous people of these lands - Evenks, by the way, they played flawlessly for non-professional actors. And of course, it is impossible not to mention the wonderful game of Yuri Zaborovsky, who acted as the head of the expedition and conducted his own investigation of what was happening. Also a good impression leaves the character of Cararbach - deaf and untalking old man, but at the same time wise and resourceful.
Separately, I would like to note the musical accompaniment, which plays a direct role in conveying the mysterious and mysterious atmosphere of those places.
So, beautiful views of nature, excellent acting work, a plot that until the last keeps in suspense and creates a mysterious atmosphere, musical accompaniment and of course, a pleasant voiceover make this film attractive and interesting to watch.
9 out of 10
Fedoseyev wrote many interesting and reliable books about his life, mainly about his geodetic expeditions. And he visited places that the fictional characters of Hollywood adventure directors never dreamed of. The titles of his books speak for themselves – “The Evil Spirit of Yambuya”, “Jugjur Ridge”, “The Last Fire of Ulukitkana”, etc. It can be assumed that Fedoseyev was among the people who watched from close range the fall of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite, for example. At least he could have worked in those places at the time. It was the end of the 40s.
Those times were truly “golden” age of geodesy, when the cartographic epic of the first real science of geography, begun in ancient times by Ptolemy, Aristotle and other scientists, was completed. In the 40s, geodesy completed the construction of a geodetic network in our country. These may have been the most unexplored places on Earth at the time. Frost 50-60 degrees, short summer, swamps on permafrost. And mountains, mountains and rivers. I envy the people of that era. They could say at sunset, “It was difficult for us, but we did everything that was necessary for humanity and a little more.”
And indeed, the surveyor was the first of the poles at the beginning of the real development of territories. Neither a geologist, nor a builder, nor much less a military man, can do anything without a map, a topographic map.
Apparently, Fedoseyev worked for the military department, then the main topographic and geodetic service was the military. Now this situation is not so obvious, but it remains, by the way. He visited only expeditions with geologists, albeit not as a surveyor, but as a cartographer. By the way, once at one of the points of the geodetic network we found traces of renewal, i.e. a new pyramid, and next to the new geodetic stamp lay a cast-iron puck with a relief signature - "Her Imperial Majesty's military-geodetic service" (or something like this). It was in the remote Transbaikalia, in places of monstrous beauty and desolation. The find took with him, but somewhere it was lost, in the turmoil of perestroika. Maybe my mother-in-law still has it. But I won't get there.
Fedoseyev’s books very reliably depict the life and way of expeditions, I confirm. Maybe even too detailed. But the harsh beauty of the nature where he worked, those incredible events for an urban person more than redeem a certain state of affairs. Compensation!
The film in question is the only film based on the work of Fedoseyev. And in them, the entertaining, artistic moment is somewhat, in my opinion, brought to the satisfaction of the authenticity of being. Almost we see a video report, so qualitatively reproduced the life of those years and the harsh beauty of those places. Only the editing and plot turn the video stream into a work of art. Nothing superfluous for the effect.
It’s a bit of a pity that the film turned out to be a bit boring for a modernly depraved (on average, of course) viewer. But it is possible that it will be overcome by the powerful stream of truth that is characteristic only of the real life of the real (and not the Russian-virtual) system, which was the USSR of those years.
I read the book like I was enchanted. What is worth only the disappearance of people in the remote taiga, and the observed at the same time incomprehensible, terrible details. In the taiga, you know, you have a completely different attitude to any signs, and not only associated with a threat to your own life. It's creepy at night. Well, that's the subject of another conversation.
The film and specifically this book from all of Fedoseyev’s work are as fictionalized as possible and pleasant to read and view. For consumption, I would say today. I absorbed (and did not consume) this book Fedoseyev last, already in the early 80s, when life was basically formed. Nevertheless, reading Fedoseyev’s other books clearly influenced my fate, although they did not determine it in the main. And I'm not sorry. Thank you to Fedoseyev for those hours of happiness that he gave me and other grateful readers of his books.
Thank you for the film, realistic and entertaining. This is a magical window into the harsh, but attractive for real men and women, the reality of real, not fake life. When the packaging had no value other than the utilitarian saving of the product.
It takes a lot of work to restore the true taste of modern life. Something has to be sacrificed. But there's no other way. Russia is great, and there is nowhere to retreat, the very existence of Russian civilization is at stake!
P.S. I read somewhere that Fedoseyev graduated from the Novosibirsk Institute of Geodesy and Cartography, while already being the head of expeditions and detachments for many years. It is interesting that today NIIGAIK serves the same purpose – for example, my head of the Sakhalin expedition of 1982 then also studied (in correspondence) at the same university. And I even did one training assignment for him. I don’t know what kind of assessment he was given. He left before the result was sent. And that still bothers me. What if I cheated then? And deprived the country of a new Fedoseyev?
Evaluation, for realism in showing real life
8 out of 10
Who knows what our cinema would have been if it had developed in the environment of free creativity. The state ordered patriotic hymns to the Man of Labor, the Man of the Creator. The creators were drawn in a completely different direction. From here, monster genres were born, the main of which was Eastern.
The Evil Spirit of Yambuya was popular in the early 1980s and was seen as a horror film. It is based on the novel of the same name by the writer Grigory Fedoseyev. The action takes place after the war during geodetic surveys of inaccessible areas of Eastern Siberia. Not far from the char Yambuy one by one disappear several members of the expedition. Their colleagues go in search, on the way meeting with local residents - Evenks. Evenki tell the story of the evil spirit of Yambuya and advise to stay away from the place. But materialistic scientists continue their journey.
It was a pure Western. The head of the expedition is like Lee Van Cleef. Evenki Pathfinders - than the Indians with their eerie rites. The scene of eating a bear is particularly impressive. Naturally, there is a big road full of tests. There is also the theme of the chase: someone unknown steals in the footsteps of the participants of the campaign to Yambui. Due to the complete lack of scenery and special effects, it will resemble the Blair Witch.
The film, of course, is not a masterpiece, but it is interesting as an example of Soviet monster genres. By the way, this article was split off by the moderators of the Cult Cinema community. Maybe they were frightened by Yambuy?
8 out of 10