By the child Leonid Osyka is one of the representatives of the unique phenomenon of “Ukrainian poetic cinema”, characterized by a bright national identity and a special imagery of the frame. A kind of anti-violent film emblem can be called filmed during perestroika film "Gift on the name day". The picture is based on the novel of the same name by Mikhail Kotsyubinsky.
The heroes of the work are far from subtle natures: the police warden Karp Petrovich is a down-to-earth and callous careerist, as well as his wife Susanna, a vulgar woman whom he met in a brothel. In stark contrast to them, their son Doria is pure and childlike.
The boy's birthday is approaching. Susanna prepared a toy boat for the gift. But for Karp Petrovich, it's just pathetic childishness. He is immensely proud of his idea of leading his son to watch the hanging of a young revolutionary. In anticipation, he imagines how his son to the very old age with trepidation will remember his name day, admiring the generous gesture of his father.
Celebratoryly dressed, the boy jokes about school antics with his father and expects a surprise. The gift remains a mystery to him until the outside warden informs him directly about it: “I will hang up?” Shall we hang up?
- No, not at all. Your feet will not stop moving.
There is not a shadow of fear on the revolutionary’s young face: she walks proudly to the gallows, ignoring the priest and the guard’s hand to climb the step. She walks without losing her dignity, knowing what she dies for.
At this moment, Dory's inner world is shattered. He doesn't care who this woman is or the crime she committed. The boy is trying with all his might to prevent a violent act, he feels with all his childish soul that what is happening is a crime against a person, and his duty is to stop it.
At the same time, his father feels disgraced, because his son so treacherously did not appreciate the gift! Karp Petrovich is concerned only with his careeristic ambitions, the desire to be pleasing superior. Restlessly looking around, he is afraid to imagine: “What will the others think?”
A particularly important point of the film is how the boy, in front of perplexed spectators, rushes to his feet to the revolutionary with the shouts: “I will not allow!”, “No demand!”, “I can not!”
The woman is touched by the kindness and courage of the child, she understands that by such a desperate act the boy expresses an inner sense of justice and humanity, which is not written in the laws.
It is clear that all observers: priests, policemen, guards and even the executioner are not comfortable with this scene, because the protest of a child is a kind of slap in the face to a spiritually decaying society and the existing regime.
Unfortunately, this unique picture remains little known to the general public, and this film can rightly be called the pearl of Ukrainian cinema.