The Golden Stream Every film has a history of its creation. In the year of the release of the picture on the screen, it looks just an interesting fact, but after almost half a century, in addition to artistic, it acquires historical value. According to the memoirs of director Marat Aripov, the decision to create the picture was taken in Moscow. The logic of the leaders was as follows: “It would be good for the southerners to make a film about the northerners.” They handed me the story of Nikolai Yakutsky, which was called the Golden Stream. Somewhere in the taiga there is a secret stream, in it there is a scatter of native gold. Only the old hunter knows where. A Russian merchant pesters a stubborn old man to show him the path to the cherished place. The people of the tribe are starving: they are very dependent on the mercy of the stranger. Flour and gunpowder can only be exchanged from him. The old hunter stands on his own: if you open the path to gold to greedy aliens, you will be in great trouble. The tribesmen drive out the intractable elder.
On the basis of the story, together with Valentin Maksimenkova, the script for the future film was written. Nature began to shoot in Severuralsk in the Sverdlovsk region. Frost was fierce - over fifty. The daylight hours are very short and you can only work from eleven to two. Aripov went to Yakutia to pick up actors. Selected for filming several Yakut actors: People's Artist of the USSR Dmitry Fedorovich Khodulov, People's Artist of Yakutia Spartak Petrovich Fedotov, Honored Worker of Culture of Yakutia Anatoly Ivanovich Vasilyev, Honored Artist of Yakutia, graduate of the All-Russian Art Workshop of Pop Art named after L. S. Maslyukov Natalia Vasilyevna Kiryushkina. Dmitry Fedorovich Khodulov was a selfless actor. In the fierce cold he dragged heavy stones, and they literally frozen to the skin. And no complaints.
I immediately liked Spartacus Fedotov. He was a very enlightened man, but not easy. He played a young hero, the beloved granddaughter of an old hunter. My assistant brought actors to secondary roles from the village of Olenek. People are more direct there than in cities. It was fun and easy to work with them, like children. One day, however, I overlooked: one of the actors entered the frame in a white Chinese shirt. I put on a new one before the shoot. I guess he wanted to look better. The lamb was only discovered during the installation, the director said with a laugh. Pavilion scenes were filmed at the film studio "Tajikfilm" in Dushanbe. Out of habit, the actors had to deal with the heat. “We had to take breaks to make up again. It was shot in short pieces. When we went on an expedition for the second time, the snow disappeared - it was impossible to shoot general plans. The troubles began: I was accused of all my sins. They started looking for a replacement. But nobody took that bait. There was no one to finish the film except me.
The final was filmed in the mountains of Tajikistan, where there is still snow. Acted on the situation - what can be filmed nearby, in accessible places. I decided to finish the film on a romantic note. A couple of lovers join together. In the distant Siberian region, a detachment of Red Army soldiers arrives, and with it - liberation from the arbitrariness of the oppressors of strangers. After the release of the picture in rental, the film crew came to Nyurbu and Olenek. It was your time. The session ends and the audience does not leave. Make room, sit on the floor. I loved the movie and people watched it over and over again. To be honest, this reaction was very touching." The fact that the film turned out to be the most covered in the media was largely facilitated by the fact that the picture was shot based on the story of the People's Writer of Yakutia Nikolai Gavrilovich Zolotarev (pseudonym - Nikolai Yakutsky) "Golden Stream", and the fact that the script of the picture was written by the first Yakut professional screenwriter Lev Lvovich Gabyshev. Prose writer and translator Lev Gabyshev during the years of the cult of personality was unreasonably repressed, but then he was rehabilitated, and he was actively involved in public literary life.
The director of the film Vladimir Artykov also shared his memories about the filming: After studying the material and nature in Yakutia, it became obvious that it was technically difficult to shoot a feature film in Yakutia in frosts below 40 degrees. In addition, actors from Moscow and other cities of the country, engaged in their theaters, to come to the set and return is almost impossible. Yakut actors Dmitry Khodulov, Natalia Shestakova, Spartak Fedotov filmed in the first place. Also, episodes with deer to quickly return the animals to the north, to their usual habitat and thereby save their lives. The scenery in the pavilions of "Tajikfilm" was filmed in the summer in forty-degree heat.
Artists in winter fur clothes under the hot rays of lighting devices almost fainted, every 20 minutes they jumped out of the pavilion, dropped costumes and poured cold water from the hose. After a short rest, the actors again made up, dressed, and they again entered the scenery. I want to explain why the film “Mystery of the Ancestors” was shot at the film studio “Tajikfilm”. The fact is that Yakutia has not yet had its own film studio capable of shooting a full-length feature film. The date “50 years of the Yakut ASSR” is approaching. In those days, to celebrate such holidays from the history of the formation of Soviet power in the republics, it was accepted widely and on a scale: films, concerts, exhibitions, awards. In my opinion, the picture turned out to be interesting, as evidenced by the premiere in Yakutsk, enthusiastically received by the audience and the press. I think this film was a good gift for the anniversary of the Republic.
There are few films about the formation of Soviet power in the North. Among the most famous can be called “Romantics” (1941), “Alitet goes to the mountains” (1950), “Traces in the snow” (1955), “Chief of Chukotka” (1966). I was a bit surprised by the low rating. Apparently, someone did not like the excessive philosophical narration characteristic of a parable or epic. But the creators of the picture and did not promise a “northern action movie”, so the genres are “drama”, not “adventure”. The emphasis in the picture was made not so much on the entertainment, but on the emotional depth of the actions of people of different formations: old man Sedyuk (Dmitry Khodulov) on the one hand and merchant Oparin (Antanas Gabrenas) on the other. These people are complete antipodes both in relation to their “tribe” and in relation to universal human values.