Did you know that you can travel anywhere in the world in less than two hours, for less than and without ever stepping out your front door? How? But, of course, through movies! Such "traveling" becomes especially more enjoyable when you are homebound, raising small children, on a budget, or simply without any vacation time.
How about a country you've never visited before? A country that for years was closed behind an iron curtain, inaccessible to visitors from the West--Russia? The movies that follow take you through the history of that magnificent country, showing you how Russian emperors ruled, lived, loved and fought, how Russian peasants worked, suffered, and rebelled, how Russian artists saw their country in colors, sounds and words, and how Western directors saw Russia as the unknown enemy that had to be penetrated with spies, intelligence, and drastic measures.
MISSIONS TRIPS
So, why not cook a Russian recipe, make some strong tea, rent a couple of these movies and invite your family to a real journey you'll never forget? Expand your horizons together, as you explore a new culture in your own living room.
And, the movies are:
A. Historical Dramas by Russian Directors
Benefits: You will travel through Russian History, meet the Czars, and watch the revolution.
1. Aleksandr Nevskiy (Sergei Eizenshtein, 1938) It is the 13th century, and Russia is overrun by foreign invaders. A Russian knyaz', or prince, Alexander Nevskiy, rallies the people to form a ragtag army to drive back an invasion by the Teutonic knights. This is a true story based on the actual battle at a lake near Novgorod.
2. Ivan the Terrible, Part I (Sergei Eizenshtein, 1945) In 1547, Ivan IV (1530-1584), archduke of Moscow, crowns himself Tsar of Russia and sets about reclaiming lost Russian territory...
3. Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot (Sergei Eizenshtein, 1958) Having lost his wife to poisoning and deserted by his chief warrior, Kurbsky, Ivan is lonely as he pursues a unified Russia with no foreign occupiers...
4. Russian Ark (Aleksandr Sokurov, 2002) A 19th century French aristocrat, notorious for his scathing memoirs about life in Russia, travels through the Russian State Hermitage Museum and encounters historical figures from the last 200+ years.
5. Ten Days that Shook The World (Grigori Aleksandrov, 1927) In documentary style, events in Petrograd are re-enacted from the end of the monarchy in February of 1917 to the end of the provisional government and the decrees of peace and of land in November of that year.
B. Masterpieces by Russian Directors
Benefits: If you love art, through these movies you will watch poetry in images and paintings in motion. These motion pictures explore the lives of certain Russian artists and describe how their spiritual quest leads them from suffering to redemption. You will meet some extraordinary Russian poets, artists, philosophers and open a dialogue with them that will stretch your mind and give you new perspectives about life.
1. The Color of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov, 1968) A biography of the Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova (King of Song) reveals the poet's life more through his poetry than a conventional narration of important events in his life.
2. Shadows of Our Ancestors (Ivan Parajanov, 1964) A Carpathian medieval legend about the tragic story Ivan and Palagna. A visual masterpiece.
3. Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1969) This epic charts the life of the great icon painter through a turbulent period of 15th Century Russian history, a period marked by endless fighting between rival Princes and by Tatar invasions.
4. Nostalghia (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1983) A poetic piece of magic realism, this is the story of The Russian poet Gortchakov who, accompanied by guide and translator Eugenia, is traveling through Italy researching the life of an 18th century Russian composer.
5. The Sacrifice (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1986) Alexander, a journalist and former actor and philosopher, tells his little son how worried he is about the lack of spirituality of modern mankind. In the night of his birthday, the third world war breaks out.
C. Foreigners in Russia through the Eyes of Russian Directors
Tender, trying and tragic, these films are also stories of passion, courage, and surrender to a fate one cannot control.
Benefits: They will inspire you to appreciate the freedom you are enjoying and be thankful for living in a democratic and peaceful society.
1. A Chef in Love (Nana Dzhordzhadze, 1997) The story of Pascal Ichak, a larger-than-life French traveler, bon vivant, and chef, who falls in love with Georgia and a Georgian princess in the early 1920s.
2. The Barber of Siberia (Nikita Mikhalkov, 1998) Richard Harris stars as a foreign entrepreneur, who ventures to Russia in 1885 with dreams of selling a new, experimental steam-driven timber harvester in the wilds of Siberia.
D. Russia through the eyes of American and European Directors
These movies offer a kaleidoscope of tragic and heroic human stories that happen at different moments in Russian history, as seen through the eyes of American, English and French directors.
Benefits: If you love history, drama, and literature, these movies will educate you through images and dialogue, while also keeping you entertained. You will learn about periods in American and Russian history you may not know about, and you will get a glimpse into the politics and ideals of Russia as they evolved through the centuries.
1. Onegin (Martha Fiennes, 1999) In the opulent St. Petersburg of the Empire period, Eugene Onegin is a jaded but dashing aristocrat who breaks the heart of young, innocent Tatiana.
2. The Brothers Karamazov (Richard Brooks, 1958) Ryevsk, Russia, 1870. Tensions abound in the Karamazov family. Acts of violence lead to trials of honor, conscience, forgiveness, and redemption. Based on the famous novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
3. Doctor Zhivago (1965) A Russian epic, the movie traces the life of surgeon-poet Yury Zhivago before and during the Russian Revolution. Based on Boris Pasternak's novel.
4. The Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981) John Reed, a radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.
5. East - West (Regis Wargnier, 1999) June 1946: Stalin invites Russian émigrés to return to the motherland. It's a trap: when a ship-load from France arrives in Odessa, only a physician and his family are spared execution or prison. He and his French wife (her passport ripped up) are sent to Kiev. She wants to return to France immediately; he knows that they are captives and must watch every step...
E. Films about the Cold War
Entertaining, suspenseful and intelligently done, these films give insights and make comments about the tension between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War.
Benefits: You will be entertained but also challenged to think about how the struggle of power in political games affect the lives of everyday people. Thankfully, the Cold War is over and no major catastrophe happened while it was going on. This is a reminder that piece is always better than war and, therefore, worthy to pursue.
1. Doctor Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964) Air Force Colonel Jack Ripper goes utterly mad and sends his bomber wing to destroy the U.S.S.R. He suspects that the communists are conspiring to pollute the "precious bodily fluids" of the American people. An incredibly innovative and intelligent film, it is also a satire of the paranoia that characterized the Cold War.
2. The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962) A former Korean War POW is brainwashed by Communists into becoming a political assassin. But another former prisoner may know how to save him
3. Fail-Safe (Sidney Lumet, 1964) American planes are sent to deliver a nuclear attack on Moscow, but it's a mistake due to an electrical malfunction. Can all-out war be averted?
4. From Russia with Love (Terrence Young, 1963) James Bond, 007, is sent on a mission to Istanbul to try and acquire a Russian cipher machine--known as Lektor--from a defecting Russian agent.
Take A Trip to Russia through Movies MISSIONS TRIPS
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