051 - Letter Never Sent, 1959, Soviet Union. Dir. Mikhail Kalatozov.

Monday, February 20, 2017

051 - Letter Never Sent, 1959, Soviet Union. Dir. Mikhail Kalatozov.

Our girl from yesterday is back.

Tatyana Samoylova, who played Veronica in The Cranes Are Flying (050, February 19), now plays Tanya in Letter Never Sent.

She is a different character.

Yesterday's film took place in a time of war.

Today's film takes place in a time of peace.

Yesterday Veronica was in love, and it consumed her life.

Today Veronica is in love, and it helps to fulfill her life.

Yesterday her lover was at war, and she was alone and worried about him.

Today her lover is with her, and they work side by side.

In fact, this element is less important to the story than the work they are doing and the people with whom they are doing it.

We now have an ensemble.  Four people.  Three geologists and a guide.  Working together in the Siberian wilderness.  Searching for prospected diamonds.

They are working for their country, for the glory of the fatherland, for progress.

We begin by dropping them off in the woods, in the water, in many square miles of undeveloped territory.

They are happy, hopeful, enthusiastic.

But their mettle will be tested to the core.

Man Against Nature.

Man Against Himself

This is the Soviet version of Jack London.  "To Build a Fire."  White Fang.  The Call of the Wild.

Or Hemingway.  The Old Man and the Sea.

With four people.

And four elements.  Earth.  Wind.  Fire.  Water.

Ravaging them.

We begin with earth.  We walk among the weeds.  The grass is taller than they are.

They dig.

The first part of the film is searching for the diamonds.  Digging.  Digging.  Overcoming hardship.  Persevering.  Trying not to give up.

There is a love triangle, but it is not pronounced.  The other man who desires her finds a way to keep himself constrained in his professionalism.  All but once.  She rebuffs him, and he returns to his work.

The fourth man writes the letter.  To his wife.  Pages and pages of writing.  One day he will send the pages.

If he makes it back.

They find the diamonds.

They report it.

They celebrate.

The movie could have ended there and made a complete story.

But this story is just beginning.

Now comes the fire.

A forest fire.  Roaring.  Raging.  Blazing.

It cuts off access.  To the river.  To their boat.  To their supplies.

Now what?

Will they make it back?

Will some of them make it back?

Will one of them make it back?

Will the letter ever be sent?

Will the map to the diamonds be delivered?

Will their work have been done in vain?

If you want to watch a story where man is tested by nature, then this movie is for you.

If you want to watch a movie with beautiful images arrestingly filmed, then this movie is for you.

Consider this.

Director Mikhail Kalatozov is working with cinematographer Sergei Urusevsky on his second of three films.  They also worked together on yesterday's The Cranes Are Flying (1957) and would again on I Am Cuba (1964).

The three films together form a film school of cinematographic invention.  Urusevsky is cited in the accompanying material as having developed new tools and techniques, including round camera rails, subjective camera angles taken by the actors, and new uses of handheld cameras, focal length, and lighting.

In this film, he uses many long takes, on location, in nature, with the actors choreographed in highly complicated ways interacting with wind, water, trees, fire, and animals.

Imagine the camera watching two men hunting, following their moves, tilting, panning, zooming in, zooming out, following them as they run, walk, crouch, stand, fall, get up, aim, shoot, and negotiate trees branches, all in one take for over two minutes.

All highly choreographed and highly rehearsed.

With real fire all around them.  And real wind.  Real water.  And real tree branches.

This film is filled with shots like this.  Fifty-six years before The Revenant.

The human elements in this film will resonate with you.

But the political motivations of the film may seem foreign to you.

We understand sacrificing for others, for loved ones, for friends, for people.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man should lay his life down for his friends (John 15:13).

But for the State?

That is a lot to ask.

And for what return?