The quest for universal happiness. Maxim Pezhemsky’s debut short film “The Transition of Chkalov through the North Pole” is dated 1990. We all remember well that in the late eighties the topic of condemnation of the leader, totalitarianism and other isms was the most fashionable, relevant, readable and observable topic.
The author of the film, taking as a basis the picture “Chkalov” directed by Kalatozov, (1941, Lenfilm), makes a black and white film without words, with the music of Sergei Kuryokhin. At the beginning and at the end of the short film, the author makes inserts from Chkalov 1941, short, but fierce in intensity. Sur, irony and hyperbole are the three white horses of the short.
During the parade on Red Square, Chkalov’s plane flies over the mausoleum (Alexander Zavyalov). The crew salutes the Chief. The leader (Semyon Furman) with the help of a mouthpiece delivers a fiery speech. During the utterance of certain fiery words (we do not hear them because of the music), the leader grows to the sky and yells into the gigantsy mouthpiece so that he sucks the Chkalov plane along with the crew.
Then we see that the Chief has already returned home. He calmly comes out of the double-yu-si, lights a cigar. He looks at his pictures hanging on the walls. And there's a rumble from inside the booth. The chief calmly turns to the side of the toilet, pulls out a weapon and smacks with two hands. The door is in pieces. The entire crew of Chkalov is hiding behind the door. The leader, without thinking twice, gives the crew a secret package. For many years before committing any heroic feat, I remember this moment.
Unlike the original of 1941, in the film directed by Pezhemsky, the Leader sends Chkalov across the Pole not by plane, but on foot. Chkalov opens a secret package. Inside the package is a leaf with a drawn arrow. The film shows the transition itself.
Will the Chkalas reach their goal at the end of the road? With sadness, looking back, I will say to myself: it will not. After all, the Chkalov team went for universal happiness. They stuck the flag at the top of the Earth and the planet began to turn in our, Soviet, direction. Must have been the wrong place. There is no universal happiness yet. The short film ends with an insert from the original forty-first year, against the background of a scarlet draft two talk.
- Gazan around the ball of the earth, and then ... — thoughtfully said Chkalov.
- And then, where next? – asked Chkalov navigator.
- “Hmm, where is human thought, there we are with you!” replied Chkalov.
9 out of 10