Prověrka na dorogach
Directed by:
Aleksey GermanScreenplay:
Eduard VolodarskiyCinematography:
Yakov SklyanskyComposer:
Isaak ShvartsPlots(1)
Based on a story by the director’s father Yuriy German, who experienced war first hand, Prověrka na dorogach centers on a conflicted individual (allegedly based on a real person) who morphs from a Red Army sergeant into a Nazi collaborator, and then back into a Soviet soldier, this time a partisan. Regardless of how sincere he is in his last transformation and with German clearly on his side, some of his comrades cannot forgive him. Its groundbreaking psychological complexity aside, Prověrka na dorogach also dazzles as the arrival of a major visual talent. Everything that would later become German’s acclaimed and admired trademark style is already in evidence here: impossibly long and complex plan sequences, adorned with breathtaking (black-and-white) widescreen cinematography; baroque mise-en-scène, bursting with countless details; elaborate soundscapes; and a prevailing atmosphere of doom. (Viennale)
(more)Reviews (1)
A daring undoing of the black-and-white Soviet stereotype concerning Russian “heroes" and dastardly Germans. Except that it undermines this whole effort in the end, where everything reverts back to the “good old" way. A movie that's more interesting than being actually good. And in fact, it’s not even good, just shamefully mediocre. A few excellent passages can't redeem the fact that the middle section is as sluggish as well-frozen vodka. Just not as delicious. Although Trial on the Road is relatively strong in the details (especially those depicting the bleak winter landscape), overall impression it’s less powerful. Considerably less.
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Photo © Mokép
