Mirror for a Hero (1987)

Two not quite similar men, our contemporaries, psychologist-linguist Sergey Pshenichny and former mining engineer Andrew Nemchinov, are walking in the street in their native miners town and... See full summary »

Directors:

Vladimir Khotinenko, Violetta Sedova (co-director)

Writers:

Nadezhda Kozhushanaya (screenplay), Svyatoslav Rybas (novel)

Stars:

Sergey Koltakov, Ivan Bortnik, Boris Galkin

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sergey Koltakov	...	Sergey Pshenichnyy
Ivan Bortnik	...	Andrey Nemchinov
Boris Galkin	...	Kirill Pshenichnyy - papa Sergeya v molodosti
Feliks Stepun	...	Kirill Pshenichnyy - papa Sergeya v starosti
Natalya Akimova	...	Lida Pshenichnaya - mama Sergeya v molodosti
Elena Golyanova	...	Roza - rabochaya na shakhte
Yakov Stepanov	...	Blind war hero
Viktor Smirnov	...	Mine director
Nikolay Stotskiy	...	Fyodor Petrenko - molodoy shakhtyor
Sergei Parshin
Valentin Aronyan	...	Shakhtyor
Aleksandr Peskov	...	Ryabenko - militsioner
Yelena Kozlitina	...	Sergey's wife
Denis Tsys	...	Episodic role
Mikhail Chernobrovkin	...	Episodic role

Storyline

Two not quite similar men, our contemporaries, psychologist-linguist Sergey Pshenichny and former mining engineer Andrew Nemchinov, are walking in the street in their native miners town and found themselves in 1949. Its a common knowledge that real miracles happen without technical devices: time comes miracle happens. They spend in 1949 only one day the next morning they found that it is the same day that was yesterday. All several months, they spent in the past, they spent in one and the same day: the 8th of May, Sunday, the day of heightened coal production. In the morning to the coal mine, in an hour an accident in a coalface, at 10 o'clock wire from the Ministry, after work reunion concerning the Stalins anniversary; robbing of pay desk, death of policeman Ryabenko, in the evening - volunteer Sunday work...and in the morning the same, and so for ever and ever Philosophic fiction, accompanied by music of group Nautilus Pompillius. After a novel of S. Rybasa of the same name.

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Plot Keywords:

mining town | time travel | time loop | repeated event | trapped in a time loop | 

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Did You Know?

Connections

Features Vstrecha na Elbe (1949)

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Soundtracks

Kazanova
Music by Vyacheslav Butusov
Lyrics by Ilya Kormiltsev
Performed by Nautilus Pompilius, Vyacheslav Butusov, Dmitry Umetsky, Aleksey Mogilevskiy, Viktor Komarov
Exclusive rights - DANA Music Limited, Ireland

User Reviews

Wow, that's quite a Mirror!

Proust meets "Groundhog Day" in a Donbass coal mining town of Stalinist Russia, with a soundtrack featuring Nautilus Pompilius doing "Goodbye America" – is it any wonder that Khotinenko's Mirror ranks as one of a half-dozen perestroika-era movies that have achieved must-see status for Russians, ex-Soviets, never-were-Soviets and the rest of us?

The high-dome version: Zerkalo/Mirror said two things well in 1987 and just as well today: (1) the past is more complex than you thought; and (2) you can't fix it but you can understand it better – which makes empathy possible and reconciliation within reach.

To describe much more is to deprive Mirror of some of its power to surprise, so enough said – OK, plus these extra credit questions: 1. Does the Mirror of the title reflect (as it were) A. Tarkovsky's Mirror of 1974? And 2. Is somebody trying to further Perestroika II by putting Perestroika I movies like this one on prime-time Moscow TV so frequently of late, as the reports have it? Isn't that a nice conspiracy theory to contemplate, for a change?

Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

16 April 1988 (Soviet Union)

Also Known As:

Зеркало для героя

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sverdlovsk Film Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

139 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (16 mm prints)

Color:

Color (PAL) Color (16 mm version)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1