That was my evil genius. The main success of any film about children is a true, reliable story that a child is ready to believe. Anatoly Alexin chose the right direction in his work: without excessive didactics and constant edification, he slowly, step by step, reveals the characters of his characters. That’s what the director of the picture Sergey Oleynik did, bringing a beautiful video series to the author’s text. If on the pages of the story the characters live in a two-dimensional printing world, then in the film they come to life and literally leave the photo to continue life inside the movie screen. Teenagers do not like to be taught because they are taught everywhere. Someone treats this calmly, someone is indifferent, and someone cannot accept it due to his character.
The third in the fifth row in the school photo - Vanya Belov (Alexander Prodan) - just like this: a gifted, talented boy, but with an acute sense of justice. He thought about others more than others about him. However, this was not important for Vani: on his rescue expeditions, he paid no one for anything and did not want anything in return. ' To the folly of the brave we sing a song!' - as if jokingly quoted, while never committing madness for himself. For all his everyday naturalness, Vanya was “out of this world” – as if he knew what others did not know and saw what others did not see. The director emphasized this unusual feature with the look of the hero, with which he reacted to all the remarks in his address. It is neither sneering nor mocking, but understanding and forgiving.
The teacher of Russian language and literature Vera Matveevna (Alla Pokrovskaya) considered this behavior of the student defiant, and because of her - still not rich pedagogical experience (the time of action - 1939) - tried to "level up" the brushy student. It wasn’t until many years later, after retiring, that she finally realized that Vanya had a disobedient character. In those years, without realizing it, I tried to bring all the forty-three characters of my students to a common denominator. And that denominator was myself. But in fact, life has proved to me that you can not suppress a person. And that everyone should do good in their own way. And that the third in the fifth row should not look like the fifth in the third row. And that in general, I, as a teacher, should see not ' rows ' but people who are standing next to ... or away from each other. And that the difference of characters is hardly worth taking for incompatibility ...
In sight of the great disaster that happened to her granddaughter Elizabeth, Vera Matveevna seems to confess to herself in the desire to find redemption. Remembering Montaigne’s words, she looks at herself from the outside: There is no other pair of eyes in the world that is watching me as closely as my own. ' And that look is judgmental. He reminds the teacher why she was left alone. I wanted my husband to see the world through my eyes and live by my callings. But it is dangerous to do this to those who love: they can submit and lose themselves forever. ..." A life compass that is true for one can knock another off the road. Vera Matveevna did not realize this immediately. But the hour struck when all yesterday's troubles began to seem insignificant. And then the memories flooded with a stormy flow.
The fate of the main and only care of Vera Matveevna - the granddaughter of Elizabeth - began to be seen from a completely different angle. Raised on the example of Vanya Belov “how not to do”, she herself became, if not his copy, then his continuation The girl had so many bright individual qualities that the teacher with thirty years of pedagogical experience decided to extinguish them with the help of the team. But in kindergarten “by misunderstanding” was the teacher Alyona, who “not for a moment parting with her amazing softness and femininity.” She was never angry with her children; loving them was her calling. Alyona wanted children to be able to cry not only when they were hurt, but also when others were hurt. And the immortal fairy tale of Antoine de Saint-Exupery “The Little Prince” is a beautiful educational example.
"We are responsible for those who tamed" - this phrase is the quintessence of the film, although it was not in the story. She appeared thanks to screenwriter Ekaterina Markova. It came about because each of us, no matter how old we are, must remember those who are close to us, who love us, who trust us. Only in this case, with the school photography yellowed from time to time, a living Vanya Belov will step into a new bright world. .