Country: Ireland
Year: 1995
Duration: 327'


In five parts. The exhausting daily routine of Russian soldiers on the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan: days of boredom and waiting alternate with attacks on enemy outposts and defense against outside attacks, leaving the soldiers in the uncertain limit between life and death. Sokurov, the son of a military man, as an artist is distressed by his country's continual state of war, and he tells the story of his fellow countrymen's life in the form of a personal and objective diary. But under his participatory gaze, real events become lyrical and his sentiments and emotions come to the surface.

Biography

film director

Aleksandr Sokurov

(Podorvicha, Russia, 1951) studied cinema at VGIK in Moscow but left before completing his studies because of contrasts with the Goskino. In 1980 he began working at Lenfil'm, but only after perestroika could the films he made during this period be seen, like his debut film The Lonely Voice of Man (1978). In 1985 he inaugurated the series of Elegies and in the 1990's he experimented with digital technology in A Humble Life (1997) and Dolce (1999). He received world-wide recognition with Mother and Son (1997), Moloch (1999), Russian Ark (2002) and Father and Son (2003). In 2003, the Film Festival dedicated a complete retrospective to his opus. In 2011 his film Faust won Golden Lion in Venice Film Festival. In 2019 la sua scuola di cinema nel Kabardino-Balkaria, che ha lanciato giovani registi come Kantemir Balagov e Kira Kovalenko, è stata chiusa per via dei contrasti tra il regista e il governo russo. In 2019 the film foundation set up by Alexander Sokurov, which raised young directors such as Kantemir Balagov and Kira Kovalenko, has been closed after claims of government hostility.

FILMOGRAFIA

Finzione

Odinokiy golos cheloveka (La voce solitaria dell’uomo, 1978-1987), Razzhalovannyy (The Degrade, cm, 1980), Skorbnoye beschuvstviye (Una dolorosa indifferenza, 1983-1987), Ampir (cm, 1987), Dni zatmeniya (I giorni dell'eclisse, 1988), Spasi i sohrani (Salva e custodisci, 1989), Krug vtoroy (Il secondo cerchio, 1990), Kamen (Pietra, 1992), Tikhiye stranitsy (Pagine sommesse, 1994), Mat i syn (Madre e figlio, 1997), Molokh (Moloch, 1999), Telets (Taurus, 2001), Russkiy kovcheg (Arca russa, 2002), Otets i syn (Padre e figlio, 2003), Solntse (Il Sole, 2005), Aleksandra (Alexandra, 2007), Faust (id., 2011), Francofonia (id., 2015), Skazka (Fairytale, 2022).

Elegie

Elegiya (Elegia, cm, 1986), Moskovskaya elegiya (Elegia moscovita, 1987), Peterburgskaya elegiya (Elegia di San Pietroburgo, mm, 1990), Sovetskaya elegiya (Elegia sovietica, cm, 1990), Prostaya elegiya (Elegia semplice, 1990), Elegiya iz Rossii (Elegia dalla Russia... studi per un sogno, 1992), Vostochnaya elegiya (Elegia orientale, 1996), Elegiya dorogi (Elegia di un viaggio, 2001), Elegiya zhizni. Rostropovich. Vishnevskaya (Elegia della vita - Rostropovich, Vishnevskaya, 2006).

Documentari

I nichego bolshe (And Nothing More, 1987), Zhertva vechernyaya (Evening Sacrifice, 1987), Patience Labour (1987), Altovaya sonata. Dmitriy Shostakovich (Sonata for Viola. Dmitri Shostakovitch, 1988), Mariya (Maria, 1988), Sonata dlya Gitlera (Sonata for Hitler, 1989), K sobytiya v Zakavkazye (To the Events in Transcaucasia, 1990), Leningradskaya retrospektiva (1957-1990) (A Retrospection of Leningrad (1957-1990), 1990), An Example of Intonation (1991), Soldatskiy son (Soldier’s Dream, cm, 1995) , Dukhovnyye golosa (Spiritual Voices, 1995), Robert Schastlivaya zhizn (Hubert Robert. A Fortunate Life, 1996), Smirennaya zhizn (Una vita umile ,1997), Peterburgskij dnevnik: Otkrytie pamjatnika Dostoevskomu (Diario di San Pietroburgo: L’inaugurazione del monumento a Dostoevskij, 1997), Peterburgskij dnevnik: Kvartira Kozintseva (Diario di San Pietroburgo: L’appartamento di Konincev, 1998), Povinnost (Confession, 1998), The Dialogues with Solzhenitsyn (Uzel) (1998), Dolce (2000), Peterburgskij dnevnik: Mozart. Rekviem (Diario di San Pietroburgo: Mozart. Requiem, 2004), Citaem blokadnuju knigu (Leggendo il libro dell’assedio, 2009).

Cast

& Credits

Regia, soggetto, sceneggiatura/Director, story, screenplay: Aleksandr Sokurov
Soggetto/Story: da diari di guerra
Fotografia/Director of photography: Aleksandr Burov
Suono/Sound: S. Moškov
Produzione/Production: ESKOMFILM, North Foundation, Pandora Co, Ltd (Japan)
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