• The Epic Film Series Liberation and the Transition “from Defense to Attack” in Soviet Military-patriotic Cinema

УДК: 791.43-24

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2025-1-34-53

EDN: GFCYZJ

Full text (PDF): Download

Ilya N. Strekalov

Cand. Sc in History, doctoral student of the Department of Russian History from the 19th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Moscow, Russia
E-mail: strek93@mail.ru

The Epic Film Series Liberation and the Transition “from Defense to Attack” in Soviet Military-patriotic Cinema

Abstract

The article analyzes the place and role of the film series Liberation in the development of Soviet military-patriotic cinema. The author considers the main prerequisites for the appearance of such film, studies the course of discussions on the development of military cinema in the USSR, which were conducted by official representatives and creative workers of cinematography in the Committee on Cinematography and the Union of Cinematographers. The researcher especially draws attention to the role played by the heads of the Ministry of Defense and the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy in changing the policy of military-patriotic cinema. The researcher also deals with the discussion held among the creative workers of the Soviet cinematography, wondering to make a successful “competition” with the Western cinema. The author examines how the success of the film series Liberation influenced the development of Soviet military cinema, how film officials set new standards in the production of films of this genre. The study is based on many archival documentary materials, first introduced into scientific circulation. These are the documents from the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts, the Central Archive of Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archive of the Newest History, the Central State Archive of the city of Moscow.

Keywords

Epic film, war film, military-patriotic propaganda, Great Patriotic War.

References

  1. Khanyutin Yu. Napravlenija glavnogo udara [The Directions of the Main Impacts]. In: Kino i vrem’a. Vyp. 1 [The Cinema and the Time. Issue 1]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1977, pp. 59–71. 
  2. Chechieva M. Pravda o vojne [The Truth about The War]. In: Ekran. 1970–1971 [The Screen. 1970–1971]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1971, pp. 16–19. 
  3. Belova L. Kolliziya v sovremennom fil’me [The Collision in the Modern Film]. Voprosy kinoiskusstva [The Questions of the Cinema Art]. 1975. Issue 16, pp. 96–123. 
  4. Kozlov L. Sovremennoe kino I nekotorye problem kritiki [The Modern Cinema and Some Problems of the Critics]. In: Na povorote vremeni. XXVII sjezd KPSS i aktualnye problem kino [At the Turn of Time. The XXVIIth Congress of the CPSU and the Actual Problems of the Cinema]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1988, pp. 84–111. 
  5. Noveishaja istorija otechestvennogo kino. 1986–2000. Kino i kontekst: v 5 t. T. 5. 1989–1991 [The Newest History of the Russian Cinema. 1986–2000. The cinema and the context. In 5 vols. Vol 5. 1989–1991]. Moscow: Seance, 2004. 760 p. 
  6. Freylikh S.I. Kinoiskusstvo: teoriya i practica [The Cinema Art: Theory and Practice]. Moscow: Akademicheskii proekt, 2015. 554 p. 
  7. Khrenov N. Kino: reabilitatsija arkhetipicheskoj realnosti [The Cinema: Rehabilitation of the Archetypical Reality]. Moscow: Agraph, 2006. 701 p. 
  8. Zorkaya N.M. Istoriya otechestvennogo kino. XX vek. [The History of the Native Cinema. The XXth Century]. Moscow: Belyi gorod, 2014. 511 p. 
  9. Zak M. Filmy v istoricheskoi proektsii [Films in the Historical Projection]. Moscow: NII Kinoiskusstva, 2008. 382 p. 
  10. Tsirkun N.A. Velikaya Otechestvennaya voina I metamorfozy pamyati [The Great Native War and Metamorphosis of Memory]. In: Obraz voiny na ekrane (na material fil’mov I arkhivnykh dokumentov stran-uchastnits Vtorok mirovoj voiny) [The Image of the War on the Screen (On the Material of the Films and Archive Documents of the Countries-participants of The Second World War)]. Moscow: VGIK, 2015, pp. 376–384.
  11. Doklad N.S. Khrushcheva o kul’te lichnosti Stalina na XX sjezde KPSS. Dokumenty [The Report of N.S. Khrushchev about the Cult of Personality of Stalin on the XXth Congress of the CPSU. Documents]. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2002. 909 p. 
  12. Gheorgiu-Cernat M. Arms and the Film. War-and-peace in European Films. Bucharest: Meridiane Publishing House, 1983. 322 p. 
  13. Karl L. Obraz pobeditelja v strane pobezhdennykh. Sovetskie kinolenty o voine glazami nemtsev [The Image of the Winner in the Country of the Losers. The Soviet War Films Through the Eyes of the Germans]. Istorik i khudozhnik [Historian and painter]. 2005. No. 2, pp. 27–39. 
  14. Woll J. Real Images. Soviet Cinema and the Thaw. London: Taurus, 2000. 267 p. 
  15. Butler I. The War Film. London: Barnes: The Tantivy press, 1974. 191 p.
  16. Karl L. “O geroyakh I lyudyakh…”. Sovetskoe kino o voine: vzglyad iz GDR. Per. s nem. K.N. Tsimbaeva [“About Heroes and People…”. The Soviet War Cinema: A View from GDR. Transl. by K.N. Tsimbaev]. Moscow: Pamyatniki istoricheskoi mysli, 2008. 247 p. 
  17. Fomin V. Kino i vlast’. Sovetskoe kino: 1965–1985 gody. Dokumenty, svidetelstva, razmyshlenija [The Cinema and the Authority. The Soviet Cinema: 1965–1985. Documents, Witnesses, Reflections]. Moscow: Materik, 1996. 371 p.

Received: 10.01.2025

Revised: 11.02.2025

Accepted: 14.02.2025