One of the screen platinum monuments to the great classic I think there will be no new information for anyone about the fact that Soviet cinema, in particular, the film adaptation of the works of giants of Russian literature, was, remains and will remain in the respect and respect of the Russian (and not only) viewer; and therefore it makes no sense to write lengthy introductions to reviews of one of the films related to the immortal classics. It is also no secret that in Soviet cinema there was a strict taboo on the scenes of violence and the very thing that did not exist in the USSR, and here I will pay attention to another positive review of the film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's story, which, despite the complete coincidence of his opinion with mine, caused me involuntary indignation due to the neglect of modern and foreign cinema of the historical genre and the deification of the Soviet literature, "it is necessary to watch the film, and everything else is impossible to show one of the modern cinematographical elements, which I did not even think about in terms of my modern age; I could not even make a joke about them, for the sake of my own age, I did not think about them, because I did not think about them, I did not think about them, I did not even in terms of my own, I did not even in terms of the modern age, because I did not think about them, I did not think about the modern age, because I did not think about them, because I did not think about them, I did not think about them, I did not think about them, because I did not think about One of these pleasant for the eye (and for the general perception, which was not even doubted) examples was a film based on the story of Leo Tolstoy, the name of which was borrowed by the leading master of Soviet comedy cinema Leonid Gaidai for one of the greatest comedies of all time, which led to the fact that the name of an eccentric comedy with chases, abductions and sparkling humor (by the way, also far from being taken in a beggarish way) eventually became more famous and sonorous for the Russian people than the name of a military classic writer. And, if the detective mini-series about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, shot for Soviet TV and thundered for the whole world, earned the title of generally recognized classics and the best film adaptation of Conan-Doyle’s works, despite the more than modest picture with poor scenery of English alleys and cheap buildings, then the transfer to the screens of a small work of Lev Nikolayevich, who fits into a few pages, but carries a powerful story about prisoners of war, did not lose the power of the literary primary source, besides, the courage of the Russian soldiers who will be able to choose from the colorful scenery / colorful situation.
The film begins with such shots, which I did not expect to see in a Soviet television film, because in such almost always everything was filmed in the poorest scenery (I repeat - I do not deny that with a soul and with a mind, but sometimes visually poor): here we immediately see the beautiful landscapes of the Caucasus, and not only: when the events described by the classic begin, we show a Russian prisoner of war captured by the Tatars in the Caucasus, and close-up shows how his leg is hammered into a deck and forced to go to prison, where he is left without food and water (so I would not say that there are not good scenes with natural remodels, except for those scenes). So, one Tatar gentleman sells the prisoner Zhilin to another, he is going to demand ransom from his relatives for the "urus" and breaks the price, which is too high for a poor man, and Zhilin declares that he will not give more than five hundred rubles, otherwise he is not afraid to die. Tatar agrees, meanwhile, they bring another Russian prisoner - Kostylin, who is familiar with Zhilin. He's willing to pay ten times as much for his release. Zhilin demands decent treatment of him and his companion, good clothing and food, and the removal of pads. The Tartars agree to everything except the last. This is followed by Zhilin’s memoirs, which paint another amazing picture for my eyes: an active scene with the chase of the Tatars after Zhilin, when he was going to another city to marry, and was captured by the Tatars. Then Zhilin, after telling Kostylin about these events, offers him to run away, saying that he does not plan to pay the ransom, and sent the letter so that it did not reach. However, when trying only to scout the area, Zhilin gets a bullet in the hand from one of his own, who has long been a traitor and serves the Tatars. Zhilin is helped by the Tatar girl Dina - perhaps the only real person among all this pack of wolves.
If, having studied this work in the third grade, you, after many years, have forgotten much of what was described by Leo Tolstoy, and want to refresh the memory of such a strong story, but there is no book at hand, which, perhaps, had to be taken at one time in the library, then at your service the endless possibilities of the Internet, where you can see the most accurate, high-quality in terms of directorial and acting work and in terms of visual production, the film adaptation, in which you did not stint neither on the prop, nor on the controversial film for Soviet elements, which you could be removed from the Orthodox in the film, when you heard and forgotten in the film. The only drawback was that they did not say at the end what had become of Kostylin, although the book said so. The film, like the book, conveys to the viewer / reader the main idea: how teachers teach elementary school students passing the program of this work, "cowardice is bad", "a man should be brave", "help a friend in trouble". A brilliant work worthy of film adaptation, which, in theory, was not supposed to be just television. However, if you want to see what you have previously read on the pages, then this film will definitely satisfy you.
10 out of 10