The Russian Ministry of Education has proposed remaking 30 cult Soviet films, writes RG. I honestly don’t see the point in this. I think that such a touching film about the war as, for example, “The Cranes Are Flying” (1957) by Mikhail Kalatozov, is impossible to remake. Or such a masterpiece as “The Fate of Man” (1959) by Sergei Bondarchuk. Why spoil this, why rewrite Raphael? Reproduction? Andrei Tarkovsky compared cinema to painting, considering them related arts, but I am sure: it is impossible to make a copy of these films.
Name at least one remake (even a worldwide one) that is better than the original. Perhaps only Jean-Luc Godard managed it, but I can’t say that I was personally satisfied with his work.
I am a person who grew up listening to Soviet classics. And for me, the scene from the film “The Fate of a Man,” where, remember, “folder, folder, I found you” cannot be repeated. And you cannot make a remake of Sergei Eisenstein’s “Battleship Potemkin” (1925), because it was shot in that language, in that melody, in that past situation. And you know, the important thing is that these films were made with love for the Motherland. Then they start explaining to you that your country is bad, that you have nothing to be proud of here. Before, the directors explained the opposite.
In our situation, it is better to think about how to present an old film to children, and not just remake it and spend money. This is as crazy as when they publish adapted works of Pushkin. Soviet classics should be better advertised in cinemas; perhaps, to unite the people – remember how in Eisenstein’s film “Alexander Nevsky” the light Tatar cavalry helped the commander on Lake Peipsi, although we were under the yoke? Tell us something about this film that brings it closer to us?
New technologies will not replace the life that was shown to us. Who will replace Nikolai Cherkasov in the film “Ivan the Terrible” (1944)? Or they will make ice on Lake Peipus with the help of technology… And the ice that burst in “Alexander Nevsky” (1938) was alive, the soul was put into it.
I will say this: leave these films hanging in the “gallery” and let people reach them. There is something to discover there, there is an idea, there were the geniuses of world cinema at work there.
The fact is that with the advent of freedom, masterpieces disappeared. But there is a barrier of people with calculators. But we have to decide: the artist runs after the crowd or the crowd follows the artist. Unfortunately, many conductors now follow the crowd. Like Okudzhava: “That melody spread through the surrounding streets, but there were no singers.” There are few singers.
