Ski Battalion (1937) Poster

(1937)

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8/10
The Forgotten War in Karelia or the Heroic Campaign of the Red Finns
lyubitelfilmov26 September 2021
A historical drama. The film adaptation of the story of the Russian and Soviet writer Gennady Semyonovich Fish "The Fall of Kimas Lake", which in turn is based on real events. Since I have not read the story, I will evaluate the picture as an independent work. I dug up this historical drama on the vastness of the "World Wide Web" purely by chance, when I was interested in the relations between Russia and Finland (shortly before my trip to Vyborg), but I was able to watch it only now, when I had a free minute. And here is my brief opinion for you - The Heroic campaign of the Red Finns. I will say right away that I did not find any shortcomings in the picture, although I tried very hard, so I will focus on the expressive advantages of this historical drama of the late thirties of the last century.

So, here they are: 1. The Second Soviet-Finnish War-the action of the picture takes place during the second Soviet-Finnish war of 1921-1922 on the territory of Karelia, which was (and is) part of the RSFSR. If the cinema turns to the topic of the Soviet-Finnish warriors, they usually touch exclusively on the "Winter War" of 1939-1940, practically forgetting about the other three (the first of 1918-1920, the second of 1921-1922, and the fourth of 1941-1944). Finnish cinema touches on the third and fourth war, Soviet and Russian also rests on the "Winter War" and the fourth, and this picture consecrated the second, which thundered in Karelia and largely determined the future of this region.

2. Historical events - the scenario was based on a real fact, namely, "The Campaign to Kiimajarvi" - this is the name of the raid of the ski detachment of red Finns, cadets of the Petrograd International Military School under the command of the Finnish communist Toivo Antikainen, on whose success the outcome of this war depended. For the situation of Soviet Russia was extremely difficult at that time. The raid played a key role in the defeat of the Belofin group of troops and local Karelian bandits and helped our Homeland to gain a foothold in Karelia, which will play an important role in the future.

3. The scenario is a picture and tells about this detachment and its difficult campaign, nine hundred and twenty kilometers long in the rear of the White Finns. It shows the battles, the difficulties of the campaign, the difficult situation, the strength of the enemy and his numerical superiority, and most importantly-the courage and bravery of the red cadets, who overcame all this and were able to defeat the enemy, almost ending this war in favor of Soviet Russia. The life and mood of the fighters and local residents are perfectly shown, the nature of Karelia is amazing. I wouldn't be surprised if it was filmed on the spot. The political and military situation of this region is perfectly explained, so it will be difficult to get confused.

4. Dynamics-the picture is dynamic, it does not let you get bored, and it begins with a major shootout between Soviet border guards and the White Army detachments "Shchyutskor" (with the Latin letter "S" on the chevron). The picture does not stretch to the point of impossibility, but in an hour and twenty-one minutes it tells about this raid, especially focusing on the battles and the courage of the cadets, although some details are omitted for the sake of entertainment. These scenes looked good at the time, and they still look pretty good now.

5. Costumes and decorations - I have already partially praised this, but I decided to highlight it in a separate item, because he deserves it. Budenovki, insulated clothing, skis unchanged in the Karelian forests, weapons of both sides, houses, household items - everything was done perfectly and they obviously did not spare money for this, because all this bribes the viewer and allows him to plunge into the situation of that time and understand the motivation of these people.

5. Humor-pleasantly surprised and made you laugh in many places. Oh, damn, what jokers these Finns are!

Many people call the picture "propaganda", which I cannot agree with. Yes, there is a fiery speech of the commander before the decisive battle, the morality of humanity and even mercy to the merciless enemy slips through the dialogues, and the constant hope for the best, and that's all that can be attributed to the word "propaganda". If this is "propaganda", then any movie is propaganda, and without exceptions!

A little about the main characters: 1. Toivo Antikainen, performed by Oleg Zhakov , is the commander of a squad of cadets who has been assigned an extremely difficult task. A brave, competent commander, an ideological communist who inspires fighters by his example, forcing them to do impossible things, the role of which was perfectly performed by Oleg Zhakov.

2. The commander of the front (the prototype of the front Alexander Ignatievich Sedyakin) performed by Nikolai Cherkasov-also the participation of the" genius of reincarnation " played for seeing this picture, and then the brilliant artist did not let me down. Again, I barely recognized him, and then only by the sonorous voice. His role here is small, but noticeable.

In a small role, Sergei Filippov lit up here, well, Nikolai Kryuchkov played a far from the last role.

The painting needs restoration, and this is noticeable to the naked eye. The picture should be tightened up, the sound should be slightly adjusted, released in blu-ray format, additional materials should be concocted and published so that a new generation of viewers can get acquainted with the classics of Soviet cinema and so that they know the history of the Motherland!

As a result, we have a good historical drama, with an excellent script based on real events, with exce.
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