Son. A strong and extremely emotional film was shot by Vladimir Vasilyevich Monakhov. This is his first directing job, and the debut is definitely brilliant. VGIK Vladimir Vasilyevich graduated in 1952. As an operator, he worked on a number of films included in the Golden Fund of Soviet cinema: “Height” (1957), “The Fate of Man” (1959), “Optimistic Tragedy” (1963). All these films have one thing in common – the ability of the camera to look into the soul of the hero and turn it inside out in front of the viewer. This is very difficult to do, but if this is possible, then the viewer becomes not just an observer, he literally lives with the characters the most difficult, most dramatic moments of their screen life.
The script is based on the story of Mikhail Sholokhov “Alien blood”. It was written in 1926. The time when the words “supplementary” and “food squad” were still in common, and the phrase “war communism” had not yet become an outdated political term. The story is written brightly, juicy, figuratively. It is these words that I want to describe the heroes of the film. There is an expression “as written” – this is how Vladimir Monakhov approached the author’s text, visualizing the story and filling it with real experiences of living people.
Ivan Gerasimovich Lapikov is an amazing actor. He started acting at the age of 32. It seems that he is still a young man, but almost all his heroes are crystal honesty and graying wisdom of the Russian people in one person. It’s hard to believe that Gavrila is only 42 years old! Of course, make-up works miracles of reincarnation, but can make-up help to play the role so that the audience would cry and take their breath away from excitement? Of course he can't. Only a real talent is capable of this, as was, is and will be the People's Artist of the USSR Ivan Gerasimovich Lapikov - the incorruptible conscience of the Russian land.