dana_sain Review of The Event

The Event (2015)

The Event: Soviet coup d'état as a peaceful extreme

[10/10 · 12 February 2019]

The American film director, writer, producer, and Word War II veteran Samuel Fuller once claimed that "film is a battleground: love, hate, action, death... in one word, emotion". Linking this utterance to the following review, the irony is that The Event/Sobytie being deprived of emotional flows, demonstrates a truly historical battleground made up of the authentic video recordings. Unlike horror movies most common for the found-footage genre, The Event, filmed by the Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, deals with the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt taking place in Leningrad (current Saint Petersburg). Sergei Loznitsa, though, was awarded for the best directorial work in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 for another historical drama Donbass, The Event, filmed in 2015, seems like being served as a substantial component of his documentary baggage. The latter is the manifest of peaceful demonstrations against the anti-constitutional seizure of power where the majority of the people are at a loss, being unaware of what was going on around, though tolerantly expressing their opinions to each other and waiting for any form of updates. This review considers both, technical (music) and authentic (the video recordings) parts of the movie as an illustration of peaceful demonstrations that rationalized the necessity of tolerance in relations among narod throughout the coup d'état The most prominent structural feature accompanying a tolerant action sequences of The Event is, perhaps, the "production numbers", that is, the music. The main composition that accompanies the film throughout the plot is the Swan Lake, a ballet by Petr Chaikovsky, originally composed in late 19th century. Most, almost all the elderly people deriving from the Soviet time knows that this music is a social phenomenon demonstrating the battle of good and evil, the sign of a certain change. Despite the fact that open scrambles did not take place along the plot, slogans and posters were hung across the streets and in front of the administration building. For example, the slogans were scanning the phrases such as "when we're get rid of the communist plague, we shall be free"; "Yeltsin trusts me and I trust him"; "Farewell to communism", etc. These lines demonstrate that people are positioning themselves for in need of help and clearly subjected to a change the ongoing nature of which they are not aware of. Moreover, these feelings are anchored by another song of one of Evtushenko, Dai Boh/God Forbid, the lines of which depict the intentions of a prayer. Particularly, "God forbid less torn wounds when there is a big fight; God forbid more different countries without losing its own however; God forbid that your country does not kick you with your shoe". These lines illustrate that despite the fact the event of political importance is taking place under the involvement of citizens, the putsch itself was being held in a peaceful and silent regime. Because, the aforementioned lines carry a certain cathartic feature driving the audience into the world of song, the world of peace and grace. Another song that was played out is Peremen/Changes by Victor Tsoy. The chorus part chants that the hearts and eyes are in need of changes, that this need is even depicted in their laughter and their tears, and even in the pulsations of the veins, the final slogan sounding as "We are waiting for Changes". These lines also manifest the intentions of the common people roaming the streets in indignation. Therefore, the accompanied songs of the film are considered to be strengthening the representation of tolerance between people and are accurately juxtaposed with ongoing plot and slogans. Despite the music playing a substantial role in the representation of the plot, the authentic material collected from the archives creates a solid foundation for the opinion formation. It is this part of production that has given a rise to the idea of tolerance between and among the narod prevailing all over the event. To be more precise, there have been the eight camera men who were filming the event with a hand-held camera using both, close-up shots and long shots for a better view and understanding of the situation. This multi-viewed case helps to watch the moods and determine the feelings of the narod in calm indignation. For example, the camera men were able to catch several scenes with groups of people whispering that "no one understands what is actually going on there", and also the scenes where some local leaders were calling other to be quiet and peaceful, so that no one could be subjected to harm. Even when some of the citizens were asked whether they realize that "tonight they carried out a coup d'état", they were a bit at loss, though nodding. Such a tolerant manner is perhaps the prevalence of the movie, though not much inherent to traditional coup d'état. To sum up, despite the fact that that historical reality narrates an extreme transformation of the Soviet Union where both main actors, incumbent government of that period and the opposing communists, failed leading to the dissemination and following formation of member states, The Event demonstrates a smooth transition of the political regime with the help of such striking documentary instruments as the collection of authentic materials so that the opinion formation is detached from the imposed idea, but is up to the audience, and the music that does not release the viewer from the mundane reality, but instead accompanies the authenticity and provides a cathartic release.