Burnt by the Sun (1994)

Russia, 1936: revolutionary hero Colonel Kotov is spending an idyllic summer in his village with his young wife and six-year-old daughter Nadia and other assorted family and friends. Things... See full summary »

Director:

Nikita Mikhalkov

Writers:

Rustam Ibragimbekov (dialogue), Rustam Ibragimbekov (screenplay)

Stars:

Nikita Mikhalkov, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Oleg Menshikov

Won 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Oleg Menshikov	...	Dmitriy
Nikita Mikhalkov	...	Sergey
Ingeborga Dapkunaite	...	Marusya (as Ingeborga Dapkunayte)
Nadezhda Mikhalkova	...	Nadya (as Nadya Mikhalkova)
Vyacheslav Tikhonov	...	Vsevolod Konstantinovich
Svetlana Kryuchkova	...	Mokhova
Vladimir Ilin	...	Kirik
Alla Kazanskaya	...	Lidiya Stepanovna
Nina Arkhipova	...	Elena Mikhaylovna
Avangard Leontyev	...	Shofer
André Oumansky	...	Filipp (as Andre Umanskiy)
Inna Ulyanova	...	Olga Nikolaevna
Lyubov Rudneva	...	Lyuba
Vladimir Ryabov	...	Ofitser NKVD
Vladimir Belousov	...	Sotrudnik NKVD

Storyline

Russia, 1936: revolutionary hero Colonel Kotov is spending an idyllic summer in his village with his young wife and six-year-old daughter Nadia and other assorted family and friends. Things change dramatically with the unheralded arrival of Cousin Dmitri from Moscow, who charms the women and little Nadia with his games and pianistic bravura. But Kotov isn't fooled: this is the time of Stalin's repression, with telephone calls in the middle of the night spelling doom - and he knows that Dmitri isn't paying a social call...

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Plot Keywords:

stalinism | year 1936 | soviet citizen | nkvd | uniform | 

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Taglines:

For those who were burnt by the sun of the revolution

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language and sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Studiya TriTe [Russia]

Country:

Russia France

Language:

Russian French

Release Date:

21 April 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Burnt by the Sun

Filming Locations:

Moscow province, Russia

Box Office

Budget:

$2,800,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$2,616,503

Company Credits

Production Co:

Caméra One,Canal+,Media Factory

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of four Russian films ever to win Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The others are War and Peace (1966), Dersu Uzala (1975) and Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (1980)

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Connections

References Skazka skazok (1979)

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Soundtracks

To ostatnia niedziela
Written by Jerzy Petersburski

User Reviews

One of the all-time great Russian films

A beautiful film. It amazingly combines the gentle, romantic tragi-comedy of Chekhov or Turgenev with one of the most effective exposes seen on screen of the corruption and underlying evil of the Stalinist era - the film takes place at the height of the Stalinist purges.

Each of the complex characters is portrayed in detail and with affection by director Mikhalkov. The Red Army hero, Kotov, starts the film as a braggart, chasing away Soviet tanks from his local village. We then see him as a loving husband and a devoted father, living a pre-revolutionary rustic life in his dacha. But further less appealing character facets emerge as the film develops. His wife, her family and their six-year old daughter Nadia (a triumphant performance) reveal their hopes and fears, and come over as a very real family, with foibles and a past which shapes their present. The intrusion of Dmitri after ten years away at first adds to this rural idyll, until the dark truth slowly is revealed - although the opening sequence, when he is seen playing Russian roulette, hints that all is not as well as the glowing landscapes and happy peasants might imply.

The end is shocking, but at the same time almost comic, as Stalin and Stalinism intrude brutally into the peaceful countryside. But there is a sense of completion and of a tale well told as the final credits indicate the fate of the main characters. Mikhalkov is a master story-teller, and this is one of the great films of the 1990s, and a Russian masterpiece.