The 1990s: Reassessing History Nikita Mikhalkov’s Burnt by the Sun

The 1990s  1991 – dissolution of the Soviet Union. Russia becomes an independent country, one of the former Soviet republics.  1992 – financial crisis. Film industry not supported by the state. Unemployment of filmmakers.  1993 – constitutional crisis, siege of the parliament; Russia on the brink of civil war.  1998 – the default (84% inflation).  Free market economy; “shock therapy”; privatization.  Collapse of distribution; the audience chooses video.  Two main trends in film: cheaply made comedies and “auteur films” in collaboration with foreign companies.

Nikita Mikhalkov (b.1945)  Descendant of Russian nobility. Comes from a family of successful writers and artists; son of the “twice-anthem-writer” Sergei Mikhalkov.  Privileged, close to the inner circles of power.  Conservative views.  Leader of the Union of Filmmakers.

Nikita Mikhalkov  Started early as an actor in film I Walk Through Moscow (1963).  Universally talented actor, starred in numerous films of many genres, including comedies.  In the 1990s – 2000s, the dominant figure in Russian filmmaking industry. Organized, in 1984, a film production centre “Three Ts”.  Joint productions with Western companies. Aesthetics “for export” (the opposite of his early films).  Allegedly, was going to run for presidency of the country.

Selected films directed by Nikita Mikhalkov  Sunstroke (2014)  Burnt by the Sun 2: Citadel (2011)  Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus (2010)  (remake of Twelve Angry Men by Sidney Lumet, 1957)  1998 The Barber of Siberia  1994 Burnt by the Sun  1993 Anna: From Six Till Eighteen  1993 Remembering Chekhov  1991 Close to Eden  1987 Dark Eyes (Ociciornie), starring Marcelo Mastroianni (based on Chekhov’s “Lady with a Lap Dog”)  1979 Five Evenings  1979 Oblomov (after a 19th cent. novel by Ivan Goncharov)  1977 An Unfinished Piece for a Player Piano (based on Chekhov)  1976 Slave of Love  1974 At Home Among Strangers

The Barber of Siberia The Barber of Siberia : the most expensive film project ever in Russia (40 million dollars) makes audience return to movie theatres

Burnt by the Sun (1994)  Reassessment of history: action takes place in  The film is “dedicated to everyone who was burnt by the sun of the revolution.”  Anti-communist sentiment; the theme of “paradise lost.”  Influenced the outcome of the 1996 presidential election when a communist candidate was close to winning (instead, Boris Yeltsin was re-elected).

Mikhalkov and his daughter Nadya receiving an Oscar for Burnt by the Sun in 1994

Burnt by the Sun, 1994  Main characters: Kotov (Nikita Mikhalkov), a Red Army general, highly revered hero of the Civil War, Stalin’s friend Maroussia (IngeborgaDapkunaite), his wife; Nadya, their daughter Mitya (Oleg Menschikov), Maroussia’schildhood friend she was in love with, absent for 10 years; a former White army officer, now an agent of Stalin’s secret police.  No conclusive judgement passed: Kotovand Mitya are both victims and villains.

Burnt by the Sun

 The problem of alienation (“at home among strangers, stranger among friends”)  Literature is an important influence and source of the film’s aesthetics (Chekhov’s plays; Russian novels).  Cinematic effects: space as means of characterization; lighting.