Much has been written about the film itself, it remains only to join these reviews. Separately, I want to note the excellent camera work - the editing gluings and visual finds amazed the whole film!
Young Livanov and Lanova in the struggle of beliefs – idealism and careerism.
A wonderful Soviet picture of three friends, one puts the interests of society above their own, the other two - on the contrary, looking for prestige, adventure and more money.
In principle, it reflects the struggle of the Soviet system to make each member of society feel part of something common, part of one big house, because acting collectively, you are stronger and more productive. The fact that years later the reformers raised the opposite values of selfishness and profit into a cult is a matter of another nature.
The heroes came out so alive that it is incredibly interesting to look at the result of their choice, how their lives turn out and what people surround them. The trio of friends are intelligent, intelligent and remain comrades no matter what, therefore, of course, the film is about real friendship, which has neither time nor the rupture of life.
Young Vasily Livanov charmed his sincere hero, like such a thin and glasses-wearing boy, who showed himself a professional and a real man. The denouement between him and the character of Eduard Breduna and the culmination with the heroes of Vasily Lanovoy and Oleg Anofriev is a real explosion of emotions.
The only thing in the film is a storyline, the denouement of which seemed to be cut out, because it did not exist, although you wait until the last (the story of Vasily Aksenov did not read). The film is 96 minutes long, and I would love to watch a few sequels that show the lives of friends.
Sometimes you want to forget about everything that revolves daily in the bustle, and forget for an hour or a half with a movie, where everything is native and understandable. Native, because you, not living in the time shown there, know so much about it and as if you remain in its coordinate system.
It would seem that we, living in the era of drones, telemedicine, Instagram and Generation Z, can have in common with three graduates of the Leningrad Medical Institute of the sample of about 1961? It turns out that not so little as not to devote a separate conversation to this.
Alexei Sakharov’s film Colleagues (1962) is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Vasily Aksenov. After the writer moved to the US, the film was kind of forgotten, but the true wisdom of the time is that it does not let go anywhere and does not lose anything to which it should not happen. “Colleagues” not only returned to the viewer, but he was not forgotten at all, because such things are not forgotten, like the air of youth itself. It remains an open question whether the majority of today’s peers heroes Aksenov and Sakharov need this movie, but do not harbor the illusion that a deep artistic statement is ever needed by the majority.
“Colleagues” is a film about the fact that there is such a thing as professional duty, it seems that today we have completely forgotten about it. And they forgot that teachers and doctors are not always underpaid state employees, but an indicator of the health of society. In addition, bearers of the same duty to themselves and their professional choice. Three friends who have chosen a difficult profession also talk about responsibility - for a friend, for life, for their fate and, no matter how naive it may sound today, the fate of the country.
We really forget a lot of important things in the stream of days. But returning to our favorite movie, for which we carve the necessary hour and a half, we seem to remember that there is another life where we are as pure, noble and highly competent as Aksenov’s heroes. At least we live this life in our imagination, which means, according to modern research, it is completely real for our brain.
And when we talk about a time in the film, an era where responsibility and professional duty were a personal choice, not a slogan, we miss it not because it was better or more convenient. Maybe it was just more honest. And it turns out that we have a spiritual need for honesty.
Perhaps all this artistic pathos is so close to us and so distinct in this heroic story that it was played brilliantly by three inimitable actors: Vasily Livanov, Oleg Anofriev and Vasily Lanova. All of them subsequently made the glory of domestic cinema, and then, being contemporaries and peers of their heroes, only entered life and profession. Of course, they had mistakes and achievements ahead of them, and life turned out to be more difficult than the students of theater institutes imagined. But we will not forget them in the images of young people, for whom, as true doctors, the word “colleague” sometimes means more than “friend”.
Going to see a Soviet film, you always expect to get some warmth from it, to dissolve in thinking about the life of a simple Soviet man. And, of course, admire the heroes, each of which can not be called otherwise than a real man. The film “Colleagues” by Alexei Sakharov, which is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Vasily Aksenov, is no exception in this sense.
At the bar, three friends-graduates of a medical university sit and exchange philosophical thoughts on what to do next, whether to go the way that the Motherland will indicate. For the heroes of Lanovoy and Anofriev, the prospect of becoming doctors for distribution does not seem attractive, and Sasha Zelenin (Levanov) is ready to fulfill his duty to the Motherland. On the street, two elderly men molest young people, they are very interested in the question of what the young people of today live. Not getting the answer they like, they accuse the three friends of squatting, of course, I argue it with the classic “but in our time.” . !
Future doctors are given the opportunity to work on the ship, Alexei and Vladka willingly agree to go on romantic journeys, unaware that their future duty is to count cockroaches. Sasha refuses the tempting offer, he wants to honorably fulfill his duty, and agrees to work as a doctor in the village.
Aksyonov and Sakharov ask typical questions on the topic of “the present century” and “the past century”: Are today’s young people living worthy dreams? Does not the fact that young people are doctors prove that their work, their dreams, and their lives are noble? Is youthful idealism, talk of the high and the eternal, the desire for beauty worth anything?
What do I care about everything if I disappear forever and no one remembers? . ? !
Stop talking, boy, slut!
The hero of Rostislav Plyatt accuses young people of the naivety of their reasoning, not suspecting that these very "bags" will not be afraid of threats and blackmail, they will risk their own life trying to save a person who has been bullied by a bear.
In the film there is a place, however pathetic it may sound, love for all mankind. Young people are ready not only for devoted friendship, but also for warm feelings for each person. If you want to immerse yourself in thoughts about the eternal, which, by the way, in the film are presented with very light and not forcing you to load your head with thoughts, if you yearn for a real Man who is capable of a feat for the sake of love and friendship, then this film will definitely please you, it will take you to a warm and friendly atmosphere, something similar to a family one, where everyone teaches (in a good sense) each other to be a moral and kind person.
At the end of the picture, the characters think: “And what will be the next Maximovs, Zelenins and Karpovs?”
And they will be very similar to the former, but still very different.
From the very beginning, such a bold film: the characters, graduating from a medical institute, talk about how bad it is to be sent on distribution to some seedy village in the vastness of the country. Who knows, before in the USSR, students after graduation were sent to work in other cities for a period of not less than three years. Now it remains only for students of budget departments in Belarus and for doctors in Latvia. This guaranteed jobs (not all after the university could get a job in the specialty) and the flow of new blood to the regions.
A film about three friends and their adventures after college. Two were flattered by the promises of a round-the-world trip and followed doctors to the port, the third was distributed to a rural hospital to the north. As a result, the guys languish in the port for office work, and Alexander Zelenin treats and operates on real patients, surrounded by young nurses who can not admire him.
For me, the subject of the parents of the main character remained undisclosed. They accompanied him to the Murmansk train with such feelings, why didn’t they come to the village to see his son? I was also struck by the erotic courage of a Moscow State University student, who just visited her intellectual in the outback. They took it straight and showed him how it started. Life didn’t prepare me for this in Soviet cinema. Here's the thaw.
Probably, it is in the genetic memory, but how nice to look at the great Soviet actors in the color of years - Vasily Lanovoy and Vasily Livanov. So pretty, beautiful, no plastic, no pottery in your mouth. Natural, real men. Eyes are burning, gusty, honest. In the old Soviet cinema so much kindness and happiness, and emotions overwhelm you when watching.
A sense of family. The elderly teach the young, they perform feats, fall in love with women, save each other. An important topic of generational change is who will come after the veterans of the Great Patriotic War, who will come after us? Same people. There are good ones and bad ones. Those who take bribes, steal, are capable of betrayal and murder, and those who save, sacrifice themselves, seek justice. There is a dragon in all of us. Whether or not it is a matter for each person to decide.
It is difficult to write reviews of domestic films. Perhaps they have more demands in showing the truth of life? Foreign films are like fairy tales about distant countries, fictional characters. And here, albeit Baba Yaga, and she is her own, recognizable, with her past and future.
Today I watched the film adaptation of Vasily Aksenov’s novel “Colleagues”. The book and film of the Soviet thaw. Three graduates of the Leningrad Medical Institute are waiting for distribution. The ironic Alexei Maksimov (Lanova), the cheerful Vladislav Karpov (Onufriev) and the idealist Alexander Zelenin (Levanov). On a windy evening on the embankment, two men are stopped in drinking. One of them, with a crutch, appears Egorov and begins to inquire: “What do you live, young people?” When we were your age, we knew what to do, we stood to death.” Maximov offends strangers, hinting at their intoxication. Zelenin says, “We’re not dudes, we’re doctors.” That's the pathos of history. In Soviet school, we often wrote essays on the topic: “Is there a place for heroism in peaceful life?”
The thirst for adventure will lead Maximov and Karpov to the Baltic Fleet, where they will count cockroaches in ship logs. Zelenin on a professional call will go to the snowy village of Kruglogorye, because there has been no doctor for two years.
Do post-war youth have a place for peace? Aksyonov and Sakharov answer: yes! It does not matter what young people argue about, how they relate to high words. What matters is what they do. Maksimov, not afraid of threats, reveals the fraud with flour in the food warehouse. Zelenin is fighting for human lives at the risk of his own. Having met again in Kruglogorye and made friends with Yegorov, a war invalid, Zelenin proves that the new generation is a worthy replacement for front-line soldiers. Fans of dance, jazz and sports do not catch, do not give in to difficulties, do not lie. They bring new knowledge, new life experiences.
High words, huh? But that's the movie, and that's the source. Young doctors also repel death attacks from people, as Egorov once beat them off in the trenches. And when Maksimov at the end of the film emphasizes that he and Karpov and Zelenin "colleagues", it sounds like "combined soldiers".
Later, the generation of Maximov-Karpov-Zelenin was accused of naivety, impracticality, inability to live. But this is what people seem in nostalgic memories of Soviet times.
8 out of 10
With your permission, I brought in the title of my review the words of one of the heroes of the film, namely Alexei Maksimov (Vasily Lanova). I think this is the main idea of the film, from which others branch out, which makes the film directed by Alexei Sakharov extremely chic! It’s been 52 years since this movie came out on the screen, but it’s looking great. To be honest, I liked this film even more than Mikhail Kalatozov’s film Cranes Fly. Properly placed accents exactly where it is necessary, at the right time and in the right place, under the amazing play of the entire cast. No one will fall out of this friendly ensemble.
Three young friends have just graduated from medical school. Of course, there is such a thing as distribution. It is no coincidence that one of them jokes:
The person assumes and the commission distributes.
There. They are looking forward to where their country will go. And here you need to say a few words about one character, or rather not even specifically about him, but about a conversation between two friends in a boat. Of course there are three of them and they are all in the boat, but behind the school, and what is ahead is unknown. So there was a philosophical dispute between Sashka Zelenin (Vasily Livanov) and Lyoshka Maximov (Vasily Lanova). The first idealist, and the second wants to take all the best from life, including the little earthly joys. They did not get to a fight, because as friends, but the conversation started in the boat will continue between the hero Vasily Lanovoy and his new boss, played by Rostislav Plyatt. And looking ahead, I want to say that the fruits of these two conversations for Alexei Maksimov will not go in vain.
Appearing as a magician, the hero of Rostislav Plyatt took two friends under his wing. He would have taken the third, but Sasha Zelenin’s civic duty is Roundegorye. So the young doctor went to conquer Siberia. And he did it more than well. The local nurse (Tamara Semina) quietly sighs to herself about the visiting doctor and everything would surely have worked out if not for the blond beauty who remained in her hometown, played by Nina Shatskaya.
In this film, the concept of friendship, honor, love and not only between a man and a woman, but also love for people in general, no matter how pathetic it may sound. A man could easily, risking his life on a helicopter, go to an unknown place in order to save the life of another person, while his girlfriend should come to him. The picture is wonderfully colored by Siberian nature, taiga, snow and we will see our heroes on skis. And there will be a song on the poems of Gennady Shpalikov performed by the hero Oleg Anofriev.
There is ice coming down the river.
On the river navigation, on the river steamer.
The steamer is white white,
Black smoke over the pipe.
We were running on deck,
We kissed you.
The deck smells like clover,
It's good in the woods.
And the paper is glued,
On your nose.
Ah, you're deck deck,
You rock me.
You're sad on my deck.
Split on the pier.
Eternal values will be told by the heroes of the painting “Colleagues”. Pay attention to the name. The director could easily call the film “Three Friends.” It would be interesting, but less intriguing. There's no intrigue here. And of course, the flawless finale of the picture, when to the question of one Siberian uncle, who they are to Dr. Alexander Dmitrievich Zelenin, the hero of Vasily Lanovy, raising an eyebrow mysteriously and mysteriously answered “Colleagues”.
10 out of 10