The Dawns Here Are Quiet
by Stanislav Rostotsky
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alexei Chernov, Irina Dolganova, Olga Ostroumova, Yelena Drapeko, Yuri SorokinDirector: Stanislav Rostotsky
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Russian (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 157 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-06-21
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Image Entertainment
Movie Reviews of The Dawns Here Are Quiet
Movie Review: A poignant, lyrical film
Summary: 5 Stars
This film, made in 1972, harks back to an era when, in war movies, emotion and character development were more important than gore and military hardware. This is Soviet Russian film at its finest, with great acting, luminous cinematography, lyrical music, human warmth and empathy, and a bittersweet feeling that infuses joyous and tragic, humorous and heroic events. Although the film clearly isn't a critique of Stalin's blunders and the brutality of communism (it wouldn't have been made otherwise), it still manages to give a feel of the unimaginable sacrifices ordinary Russian people had to make to win the war of annihilation that the Nazis unleashed on them, with very little of the jingoism of official "socialist realism."
The story is set in remote northwest Russia, and starts with the complaints of the village commandant, sergeant-major Vaskov, about the drunken, womanizing crews of anti-aircraft gunners the Red Army keeps sending him. He gets his wish soon enough, when a group of young women gunners arrives to replace the last sad lot. Vaskov at first does not know how to deal with them, then grumpily starts bonding with them.
The story focuses on five of the women, using ironic/stylized romantic flashbacks (shot in color--apart from flashbacks, daydreams and a flash-forward the film is black and white) to acquaint us with their personal stories. Soon enough, one of them discovers two German paratroopers in the woods, and Vaskov sets off with the five women volunteers to catch the intruders. The two turn out to be 16 highly trained men intent on some undefined serious mischief. The rest of the film uses the deadly pursuit to explore what these six characters (the wily yet sentimental older sergeant major, the young war widow, the poet, the wayward woman, the foundling, the earnest lovelorn lass) are made of. In a game of cat-and mouse through the northern forests, swamps and lakes the six are pitted against the Nazi team. Who will survive? How will each of them behave in extreme situations? Will reinforcements arrive in time? Suffice it to say that war is tragedy, and happy endings in tragedies are rare.
This is a film that may move too slowly for modern audiences. The tension comes not so much from plot twists and turns, but from caring about the fate of the characters, whom we have come to know and understand. I've always been a sucker for all the tools the director uses, from lyrical music mostly in minor keys to the luminous beauty of Russian actresses. All these tools (or manipulations, if one wants to be cynical) feel just right for the purpose of salvaging something uplifting from the unimaginable tragedy that World War II was for Russia. This film is a classic.
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