Wash the first oil A television film on a “production theme” must necessarily have its “highlight”, which will keep the viewer at the screen. Olgerd Riksovich Vorontsov, after graduating from the Ural Conservatory, graduated in absentia from the camera faculty of VGIK, after which he worked as an operator in film and television in Sverdlovsk, as well as an author-operator of plots of film magazines “News of the Day”, “Soviet Ural”, documentaries. This left a certain imprint on his fourth picture: there are musical numbers to the guitar accompaniment; here are the beautiful musical themes of Leonid Viktorovich Afanasyev, referring the viewer to the Eternal Call movie saga, which was shot at the same time; here are memorable full-scale shootings with inserts of black and white photos.
As for the “highlights”, then, if they did not “sweeten” the plot, they certainly diversified it. To a person who is far from geology in general and from drilling wells in particular, the shown, indeed, will seem northern romance, but who is familiar with this “kitchen” from the inside, will notice some funny details. To make it easier for the viewer to imagine what drilling is, you need to look a little into the history. The world's first well drilling for oil production was carried out in 1846 at the suggestion of a member of the Main Directorate of the Transcaucasian Territory Vasily Nikolaevich Semenov in the village of Bibi-Eybat near Baku, then part of the Russian Empire. The depth of the well was 21 m! In 1941, a well to a depth of 2000 m was drilled for the first time in the world at Bailov (Baku district).
Heroes of the film are also very easy to "get by" with figures of 1500 and 2000 m. And at this depth, they have a “grab”. The liquidation of the accident for mining experts was removed with excessive dramatization. Elimination of the “grab” in drilling is an unpleasant, but quite ordinary or even routine operation, and it cannot be a novelty for the maintenance staff of the brigade, who have been on this site for two years. All this looks like an element of theatricality to convey to the viewer the difficulties and dangers of the work of the oilman.
Another "highlight" is the lyrical line. It is not that it is not exciting, but - too everyday - no fire, no emotions. And the “love triangle” is too classic for films about geologists (who has watched, he will understand what it is about). There is another ... strange price from the beginning of the picture - the minister's kitchen, where old friends fry eggs (!). After all, in the yard of the mid-80s, not the romantic 50s, and a person of this rank, most likely, had a different furniture. The rest of the picture is a simple uncomplicated film story on a topic that will never lose its romantic halo - geologists, oilmen, the North.