In search of homeland The first three full-length paintings of Grigory Melik-Avakyan can be combined into a trilogy with the title Heart: Heart Sings (1956) - about the love of two young people; “The Heart of a Mother” (1958) – about the love of a mother for her child; “What the river makes noise” (1958) – about the love for the Motherland of a man who loved her with all his heart, but whom fate threw from one country to another before he could get to his native land. The script was written by Mikhail Fedorovich Ovchinnikov. During the Great Patriotic War, he served in border troops on the border with Turkey, which had a great influence on his work - it was from there that stories about border guards went. And that’s what the movie is about. A picture from that very small category of films, when it is better to watch five times than write once.
It is a very painful subject of returning home. The performer of one of the main roles of Atanes Gambaryan Grachya (Rachia) Nersesyan himself was a repatriate who returned to his homeland in 1922. Perhaps it is for this reason that the image of Gambaryan turned out to be extremely reliable, because Nersesyan had the ability for acute stage reaction, improvisational ease and great actor charm. Having started acting in the 1920s in Turkish films, Nersesyan established himself as a master, conveying the richness of the inner world of his heroes through concise external expressive means. Indeed, in the film, scenes with his character are few, but each of them is memorable, thanks to the amazing expressiveness of the actor's face.
Artemy Aivazyan’s beautiful music sounds in the film: both fabulous, like a dream of a lost house, and life-affirming, like his real acquisition. Excellent camera work of Zhirayr Vardanyan, whose camera managed to capture the most interesting moments of the life of the border village. Bright and memorable were the images created by Frunze Dovlatyan (corporal Manukyan) and Lilia Oganesyan (Seda Gambaryan) - a beautiful story of relationships, darkened by the vile actions of loved ones. In some episodes, it is impossible to watch this film without tears, because we look with our eyes, but feel with our soul and heart.