Wings (1966)

A fascinating and human portrayal of a once-famous fighter pilot and loyal Stalinist named Nadezhda Petrovna. Now a 41-year-old provincial schoolmistress, she has so internalized the ... See full summary »

Director:

Larisa Shepitko

Writers:

Valentin Ezhov, Natalya Ryazantseva

Stars:

Mayya Bulgakova, Sergey Nikonenko, Zhanna Bolotova

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mayya Bulgakova	...	Nadezhda Petrukhina
Sergey Nikonenko	...	Sergei Bystryakov
Zhanna Bolotova	...	Tanya
Panteleymon Krymov	...	Pavel Gavrilovich (as Pantelejmon Krymov)
Leonid Dyachkov	...	Mitya Grachov
Vladimir Gorelov	...	Igor
Yuriy Medvedev	...	Boris Grigoryevich
Nikolay Grabbe	...	Kostya Shuvalov
Zhanna Aleksandrova	...	Zinka
Rimma Markova	...	Shura (as Rimma Nikitina-Markova)
Arkadi Trusov	...	Morozov
Olga Gobzeva	...	Journalist
Boris Yurchenko	...	Sinitsin
Evgeniy Evstigneev	...	Misha
Natalya Gitserot	...	(as N. Gitserot)

Storyline

A fascinating and human portrayal of a once-famous fighter pilot and loyal Stalinist named Nadezhda Petrovna. Now a 41-year-old provincial schoolmistress, she has so internalized the military ideas of service and obedience that she cannot adjust to life in peacetime.

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Plot Keywords:

downed airplane | post world war two | postwar life | female fighter pilot | ex pilot | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

International Film Circuit

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Asas

Filming Locations:

Mosfilm Studios, Moscow, Russia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mosfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Fejezetek a film történetéböl: A szovjet film 1953-1970 (1990)

User Reviews

Thoughts and feelings without words

Nadezhda (aka Nadya), a school director and WWII heroine pilot is greatly respected by everybody. When she expels a boy from school for pushing a girl (she started it) Nadya gets to thinking. She had to make it in a man's world and has to continue being tough every day (deny her femininity, in a way) to get ahead. But is she maybe overdoing it a little? When offered a dance she declines although she would probably like to, and she denies that there is anything more than a platonic friendship between her and a male museum director. In what situations can she allow letting her guard down, allow being seen as a woman? She and her adopted daughter are more like good acquaintances, having completely different ideas about life and about being a woman. Where did she go wrong? She meets women who are quite happy with the modest roles assigned to them, apparently a lot happier than her. Is this the life she wanted?

All this thematically rich contemplating and melancholy of Nadya's happens without words. Mostly what we see is Nadya doing her job, administrating, exchanging words with people who recognize her, dealing with a young student who looks up to her, wandering around, going to bars, etc. She clearly isn't all stern and cold, she puts on a matryoshka doll costume to perform in a school play when a student suddenly drops out, she has a little personal woman-to-woman talk with a bar woman and then waltzes with her through the deserted bar, she gets giddy practically as soon as she smells alcohol and hence makes a fool of herself at her daughter's wedding celebration. In between all this we often see her thinking. What she really thinks about mostly is up to the viewer to interpret. One reviewer, for example, figured that Nadya's thoughts are purely those of nostalgia, for she is stuck in the glory days of her past while the present passes her by. Well, some of the things I think she thought about you can read in the first paragraph, so this review is thereby concluded.