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The Commissar More at IMDbPro »Komissar (original title)
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| Index | 15 reviews in total |
27 out of 33 people found the following review useful:
Don't be tricked, 14 January 2005
Author:
MikeH111 from United States
Don't be tricked by the rating. This movie is wildly, unforgivably
underrated on IMDb. To speak of its beauties would take me volumes.
Suffice it to say: find it, if you can (it may be still available in
good video stores, on VHS) and be enthralled by one-of-a-kind movie. As
opposed to overrated 8+ 9+ c... like American Beauty or the Korean
Oldboy and other movies full of either vapid pomposity or of guts and
gore and blood and nonsense, Komissar is an extraordinarily beautiful
and fluent meditation on human nature, war, religion, childhood, good
and evil. Miss it at your own peril.
10 out of 10
15 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
this film shows the beauty and courage of a family caught in the midst of war., 14 May 2004
Author:
jlawrenc from clinton, NY
Throughout the movie, `Commissar', the innocence and naivety of the
children
allows them to be used as a medium through which many emotions can be
conveyed. Sheltered from reality by their youth, the actions of children
reflect their environment, unhindered as they are by experience, opinions,
or understanding. The actions of a child are not filtered by taboos; the
actions are pure and unadulterated regurgitations of the world around
them.
The example that stands out the most in the film is that of the playful
pogrom. The actions of the three children, taken against the fourth, are a
horrible reflection of the world they live in. However, this is not the
only
such example. In fact, the same concept, used in the very next scene,
shows
a beautiful reflection of the strength and courage of a family caught in
the
maelstrom. As the bombs begin to fall, and the children all begin to wail
within the cellar, it falls on Efim to hold everything together. He does
this in an incredibly powerful scene, standing up in the middle of his
family and beginning to dance. Instinctively the children stand up to join
their father in an act they are obviously as familiar with as the pogrom,
and are placated by mimicking the ritualistic, soothing moves of their
father. Whether or not they understand the significance of the dance, just
as they may or may not fully understand the pogrom, is irrelevant to them.
All that is important is that it and their father are there to give them
comfort.
Through the same general device, two very different ends are achieved.
Many
responses stressed the horrifically moving quality of the pogrom scene,
but
fail to mention the beauty and hope of a father dancing with his children,
while the world rips itself apart around them.
10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Masterpiece, forbidden for 20 years, 2 October 2002
Author:
eva25at from Vienna, Austria
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
***Possible Spoilers***
During the russian civil war the soviets occupy the Ukraine. Sometimes the
"whites" move forward, killing and expulsing the population, sometimes the
Ukrainians strike back. Destroyed villages, deserted homes, fortified
houses
where the inhabitants take shelter behind bullet-riddled
walls.
The soviet commissar Klavdia Vavilova (Nonna Mordyukova) takes a rest and
goes to the sauna before consigning a deserter to the firing squad. She is
expecting her baby soon, three months in the saddle, and the doctor
refused
her an abortion - even at pistol-point. She can not go on, and so, the
commander of her troup announces to Yefim Mahzannik (Rolan Bykov): "Make
room!". Mahzannik, a jewish taylor is none too enthusiastic to welcome a
soviet commissar under his roof. His large family is already living in
just
one room, and he promises his wife: "Don't worry. I'll chase her
away".
But he doesn't. On the contrary: his family shares their meagre provision
with her. Potatoes, bread, tea, even sugar is rationed. She gets her
host's
slippers, he makes her a dress, and the entire family helps her with the
delivery of her baby-son. Proudly she goes on a walk with her new shoes
and
lets her baby be baptized in the ruins of a former church.
She is discovered by her old troup. The "whites" are advancing and they
suggest she should join the hospital train. Her hosts know that their
enemies are near. They raise barricades to protect their homes and their
synagogue ("They will look for a scapegoat. And who is always guilty in
this
world? I ask you: who?"). They remember the massacre on the Boers and the
Armenians ("Who will cry if I'm no longer there?"). Klavdia tries to
console
them ("One day people will work in peace and harmony"), but in a hellish
vision she sees the fate of the jewish people: long rows of fugitives,
concentration camps...She gives her son the breast one last time and tells
him who his parents were. Then she joins her troup, leaving him behind.
Mahzannik finds the abandoned child and wonders: what kind of person was
she?
Made in 1967, this film was not released at all, but moldered on a shelf
for
20 years until mosfilm restored it in the glasnost-era and showed it to a
fascinated audience. It won the special prize of the jury and the silver
bear at the berlinale 1988. The reason for this ban was obvious: this is a
pro-semitic film that shows the occupation of the Ukraine in less than
heroic terms.
The Soviet Union may have been behind the iron curtain, but it was
certainly
not behind the moon: Director Alexander Askoldov is not only the heir of
an
impressive film-history (Eisenstein), but clearly inspired by such
contemporaries as Pasolini and Bergman. Helped by his cameraman Valeri
Ginsburg he produces enormous set-pieces and unforgettable images: Little
boys and girls exercising with guns, sandstorms in the desert, whipped
horses, harnessed horses, fleeing without their riders, naked skin, sweat,
people making love near a gigantic cannon. There are surreal shots like
the
one where soldiers "reap" the desert sand with scythes, or the one where
thirsty men drink from a river - the camera turns a 180 degrees, and the
river "drinks" them...
There are scenes from a jewish wedding, where the couple starts a race
with
their horse-carriage - against another couple, a christian one. When Yefim
senses the extermination of his family he starts a macabre "dance of
death"
as if to defy their destiny. Two scenes are especially shocking: Yefim's
children playing "rape" and tying up a frightened little girl on a swing,
and a young russian soldier, playfully "shooting" the children with his
finger. We fear what will happen when he comes back...
All these sequences are genially underscored by Alfred Schnittke's
groaning,
atonal music.
The performances are nothing short of brilliant. Mordyukova - a tall,
plump
woman dressed like a man, forced to behave like one. When she changes in a
dress and holds her baby in her arms, she becomes unbelievably beautiful,
like a madonna. Her goodbye to her child ("Your mother was Vavilova")
could
melt a stone. Rolan Bykov is the ancestor of Topol in "Fiddler on the
roof"
and Roberto Begnini in "Life is beautiful". Need I say more? This film is
thrilling and gripping, a genuine masterpiece.
10/10
7 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
A period film showing a microcosm of the Russian Revolution, 13 March 1999
Author:
cm-4 from Idaho Falls
During the Russian Revolution, the Red army enters an
isolated town and leaves behind a female revolutionary,
Klavdia, who has become unexpectedly pregnant. Klavdia
stays with a Jewish family to have her baby.
A remarkable film, but one which was left unfinished.
The director, Aleksandr Askoldov, is only credited with
one movie, and it as if he put a lifetime of ideas into
this single film.
6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
This is cinema, 19 August 2007
Author:
hoobits from United States
A film on the same echelon as Kilmov's Come And See, Jancsó's The Red
and The White, Shepitko's Ascent and the great Russian silents as well
as the vanguard 60s cinema. This is one of those films where image and
sound form a perfect marriage committing to screen an onslaught of
ingenious, uproarious and emotional imagery marred with wonderful sound
design and score, all strung together by ingenious editing. This is
cinema.
The story is one of a Red Army woman officer during the Russian civil
war, who ends up pregnant and is forced to live with a Ukrainian Jewish
family, who has been used and abused countless times by the red and the
whites. This is a story of humans coming together and setting aside
their differences and understanding each other amongst suffering and
strife. It is a test of loyalty to one's self, one's family, one's
country.
Commissar was banned on its initial completion and writer/director
Aleksandr Askoldov was kicked out of the Communist party and not
allowed to work in the film business in any form again. It wasn't until
1988 that the ban was lifted and the soundtrack remastered/re-done
along with a reconstruction of the picture, which was fairly intact.
But not until now has it been wildly available so I really would urge
anyone who enjoys Kurosawa, Tarkovsky, Tarr or any of the before
mentioned films to seek this one out. The US DVD from Kino is probably
their best transfer yet; very pristine and sharp with no a lot of dirt
or scratches, although it is from a PAL source so there are some
ghosting effects on large movements, making the picture look
simultaneously in slow mo and normal frame rate
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Reality vs. Fairy tales, 20 September 2008
Author:
gentendo from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
From staunch militant to sensitive mother, Vavilova's search for
self-identity is one that creates meaningful stories, both internally
and externally. She is a very curious character. With masculinity and
devout patriotism as two of her defining qualities, she does not
subscribe to the typical female persona (at least in the beginning).
Each quality creates a thought provoking dynamic for how she faces
internal and external wars. Her internal war is pregnancy. As the child
grows within her poses a threat to her masculinity, a subsequent
external war is created—that is, the child additionally poses a threat
to her patriotic rank as Commissar. Although both wars throw her life
into a state of imbalance, they also help develop her in becoming a
more volitional and rounded character. In particular, her internal war
creates maternity and sensitivity—two qualities that lacked in her
previous commanding status.
She acquires both qualities after giving birth; this is depicted when
singing a lullaby to her sleeping babe as well as when emotionally
breast-feeding him (two actions which run contrary to her initially
bleak and cold persona). Her external war (i.e. love of country), so
too created by the pregnancy, introduces the most difficult challenge
she has to face in the film: the choice of whether to marry herself to
her country by divorcing from her child, or keeping her child and
ridding her patriotism.
What draws her to eventually side with her country is a series of
haunting flashbacks and clairvoyant visions. In one specific moment
while suffering through the birthing process, her mind flashes to a
dreary landscape filled with military soldiers, who, like herself,
struggle to push a heavy piece of artillery up the side of a steep and
sandy hill. This image evokes at least one particular meaning—one which
acts like a stepping stone to help Vavilova make her final decision
when giving up her child: The collective group pushing the machine
uphill is a type of not only the communist ideals that Vavilova stands
for, but is also a metaphor for the strenuous birthing process itself.
In other words, the birth of a child and the birth of a nation are
equally painstaking tasks—both which require exertion (i.e.
masculinity) and loyalty (i.e. patriotism).
The flashback ends with her waking up in panic, repeating to herself
several times: "Stop torturing me." These words speak on multiple
levels. In one sense, she is tired of being mentally tortured from the
government that oppresses her with stringency. In another sense, she is
tired of being physically tortured during the birthing process. Rich is
the emotion and meaning of this flashback, and consequently it later
leads to an extremely significant clairvoyant vision.
During this vision she witnesses the forthcoming holocaust of WWII. She
sees herself with child swaddled in arms, shuffling amongst a sheepish
group of Jews as they wander to their death chambers. Reluctant to
follow what she sees, it's as if she's asking herself while in vision,
"Is this my fate?" Her subtexual obstinacy kicks in: "No, it can't be."
She is the author of her choices and will not be subject to any
deterministic beliefs. She feels she can change this outcome, but she
must act now. However, the choice to act is a difficult one given her
present circumstance. What choice does she make: raise her child or
fight for her country? She cannot do both, for by focusing on one the
other is inevitably sacrificed. Where, then, is optimism to be found in
her utterly bleak and tortured world? The aesthetics of the film help
contribute to this bleakness by the director's choice of shooting the
story in black and white. Only in a world like Vavilova's are colors of
the rainbow absent. The black and white look is a reflection of the
coldness she feels inside, empty of any optimism. Interestingly enough,
however, the Jews surrounding her in vision seem to be optimistic—they
raise their arms in an almost dance-like ritual, knowing full well that
death will soon embrace them all. She steps back nervously. Her body
language has spoken. She remembers back on the corrupt youth that exist
in her present—the ones who so ignorantly mimic their corrupted
elders—and feels an obligation to save the youth, and particularly her
own child from such corruption. Although most of this is more or less
implied, I strongly believe that this extraction is highly plausible
given her final decision.
She does not abandon her child, though some may argue so. She leaves
her child in the hands of a very nurturing family; ones who she could
trust since they too had nurtured her during her period of birth and
even rebirth. Holding the confidence that her child will be safely
watched after, she returns to her former state of balance by joining
the war effort. She has rediscovered her meaning, place and identity in
life: she is a warrior. Her life cannot be lived in fairy tales, like
Yefim suggested when turning the war into a theatrical play for his
children. Her life must be lived in truth and in truth only. That is
the film's predominant theme: Despite how ugly the truth of reality
is—even during times of war and torture—it must be embraced and dealt
with; not thrown to some fantasy that creates false optimism. By living
in a fairytale, she potentially falls prey to becoming a victim of the
holocaust; by living in truth, she attempts to reverse the effects of
such an outcome by fighting the monster of war.
5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Contemplative and beautiful., 9 March 2001
Author:
dave-39 from Uppsala, Sweden
I saw this film maybe 10 years ago on a fairly large screen in Uppsala,
and
I've tried to locate on VHS or DVD (not likely) ever since, with no luck
so
far.
As I remember, I was impressed with the contemplative mood of the film.
You
have the typical Russian feeling of hardship found in many films, but it
is
overshadowed by a sense of family-warmth which all-in-all gives you a
positive experience.
There's one particular scene which I will never forget, and consists of a
girl on a swing. The scene is beautifully shot at a low angle, and one of
the most telling pieces of film art I've ever seen, despite the simple
setup.
If you have the chance, see it!
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
a minor classic of Soviet realism, 12 November 2010
Author:
Michael Neumann from United States
The biggest surprise about this little seen Soviet drama (revived in the late 1980s) isn't that it was banned for two decades, but that it was ever made at all. The film is openly critical of the Revolution, but not from behind the fancy metaphoric camouflage used in other repressed Iron Curtain features. Instead, it offers a direct and sensitive story of a dedicated but pregnant Red Army Commissar who, sometime during the 1930s, finds shelter with a Jewish family and is transformed by their affection. In the end she has to choose between motherhood and the Motherland, but her decision to follow military duty does nothing to diminish her new found sympathy for her surrogate family, and before rejoining her company (slogging through an unglamorous landscape of Ukrainian ice and mud) she entrusts her baby to the care of people (and, by extension, a tradition) she has learned to love. Stylistically, the film is a mix of poetic realism with occasionally self-conscious (but effective) montage flashbacks, plus one haunting flash-forward anticipating the Holocaust.
4 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
One must ask: who will remember Yefim?, 18 February 2006
Author:
Lee Eisenberg (eisenberg.lee@gmail.com) from Portland, Oregon, USA
Adapted from Vasiliy Grossman's novel, "Komissar" (called "The
Commissar" in English) was banned for twenty years in the Soviet Union;
the censorship board considered it "pro-Zionist" due to its sympathetic
portrayal of Jews. It portrays pregnant commissar Klavdia Vavilova
(Nonna Mordyukova) staying with an impoverished Jewish family during
the 1918-21 civil war. This is the sort of movie that shows the lives
of forgotten people in the midst of world events; the father Yefim
(Rolan Bykov) complains of how things have not really improved for the
Jews since the revolution. I would say that that's something that
historians should note.
As an FYI, the woman who is teaching the Russian cinema class here in
Lewis & Clark College was at the premiere of "The Commissar" in Moscow
in 1987.
Long suppressed Soviet film., 30 May 2011
Author:
runamokprods from US
The story and characters are a bit thin; a female leader in the Russian
Revolutionary army in 1922 is disgraced when she is found to be
pregnant, and goes to live with a Jewish family, loses her hard shell
and becomes a mother.
But the black and white images are truly striking and impressive,
especially the fantasy sequences. They give the story a much deeper
power and resonance than it would otherwise have.
Especially impressive as a first film. this was suppressed by the
Moscow authorities for 20 years for it's sympathetic view of Jews and
their oppression in Russia, and the implication that the USSR was
complicit in knowing about and not stopping the concentration camps of
WW 2.
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