VOR (THE THIEF)
Russia, 1997, 110 minutes, Colour.
Vladimir Mashkov, Yekaterina Rednikova, Mischa Filipchuk.
Directed by Pavel Chukhraj.
The Thief was the recent Russian nominee for Best Foreign language Film. It is a fine film. Set in the immediate post-war years and the Stalinist era, if focuses on thief who poses as a soldier and takes with him a young widow and her little son. They travel Russia, encountering the pleasures and hardships of their Soviet communist society. Each character is believable and many of the sequences are moving. This is especially the case with the small boy, with his engaging face, trying to remember his father, attracted by the thief who tries to toughen him up, loving his mother. The story is told from his adult viewpoint, with great feeling but also a sharp critical edge. Moving perspective on the Soviet past.
1.The acclaim for the film? In the Russian industry? Worldwide? Oscar nomination?
2.The perspective of the film, the 1990s looking back at Stalinist Russia? The action in the 1940s and 1950s? The allegorical aspects of the film? Tolyan and his having Stalin tattooed on his chest? Standing in for Stalin, dominating, protective, exploitative? Katya and Sanya as typical of those who were victims of Stalin?
3.The photography, the aspects of the 1940s, dark? The focus on Katya and her giving birth? The transition to the 1950s, the city, the streets, the apartments? The theatre, the circus? A realistic but grim atmosphere? The musical score?
4.The focus on Katya, widowed, the experience of the war? Her giving birth in difficult circumstances? A strong woman?
5.The transition to the 1950s? Katya and Sanya travelling on the train? Sanya and his age, an attractive little boy? Love for his mother?
6.The chance encounter with Tolyan? His posing as an officer? Strong man, his Stalin tattoo? Dominating character? Katya’s attraction? Their becoming a family? Setting up the apartment? Seeming to lead an ordinary life?
7.The episode in the theatre, Tolyan leaving for a cigarette? Katya following him, discovering that he was robbing the apartments in the apartment block? Her reaction? His dominance?
8.His involving Katya and Sanya in further robberies? Their complicity? Going to the Black Sea, the resort, his success in robbing apartments?
9.His relationship with Katya? Love or not? His relationship with Sanya, fatherly and protective, dominating, cruel? Teaching him the tricks of the trade? For survival?
10.Katya and her decision to leave? The arrival of the police? Tolyan’s arrest?
11.Katya, the attempt at the abortion, her death? The effect on Sanya?
12.The years passing, Sanya growing up? The chance encounter with the drunk Tolyan? Tolyan not remembering the past? Sanya and his shooting Tolyan at the train?
13.The comic touches? The realistic touches – the range of people in the cities, at the Black Sea, in the apartment block? Giving a sense of realism? Yet the focus on the central three people, their plight, coping with difficulties – and the tragic implications of the Stalinist era?
