Film Review: The Dawns Here Are Quiet
The Dawns here are quiet is a 1972 Soviet war drama directed by acclaimed Stanislav Rostotsky and is based on Boris Vasilyev's novel of the same name. The film deals with antiwar themes and as well as a unique social critism into the roles of men and women during the Great Patriotic War. The film followed a womens unit along the eastern frontlines in Karelia. The dawns are quiet was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category.
The film Introduces us to a Military unit that is led by Petya Vaskov he is unaccustomed to leading women militarily or otherwise and creates a humorous tension throughout the first part of the film; During the second film we begin to see him evolve as a soldier and a leader when crisis begins and he see his officers as his family and his fellow combatants. His officers are just as diverse ranging from the mothers of Russians to mistresses and orphans who all share a common struggle the War on mother Russia. We see their histories unfold in the first part of the film giving the characters a rich depth from which we the audience can relate too, and during the second film we see these same girls become women all to quickly as each is willing to fight die and protect their fellow soldier.
The second half of the film they are dispatched to capture two soldiers who are moving past the frontlines but after encountering the Germany troops at the river the quickly realize that this was a 17 troop unit pushing forward to capture railways of the North. At first Vaskov was hoping to delay them while reinforcements arrived but fate had forced them to hold their positions to the death and stop the unit in its tracks outnumbered we see our characters hunt down track and confuse the enemy to the last soldier. Vaskov was the last man standing and managed to capture the last the Germans alive. Before the arrival of reinforcement.
The film used many different stategezies throughout to capture our attention early on we saw a very typical gendered conversation we saw Vastovs original unit of men and a little bit of comedic cross dressing, jokes about Russian soldiers who don't drink and chase women don't exist. Only to be thrown into another amusing social discourse about the two genders when he meets his new officers. What the movie did was created a space for which we the audience could also grow to see beyond the differences between men and women to see common middle grounds of the human condition.
The director also used color and memory in a unique way where our main story line was shot in black and white, but the future and past were colorized When remembering the scenes used color very intentionally as a tool with the actors and props rich in color but the set in a sterile white clashing with red shoes dress tablecloth etc. This transitions between black and white created a stable timeline between the narratives but also added layers to the black white that would had been absent otherwise. The director stayed true to the novel and did it in a way that was both clever and resourceful. The film is very worthwhile and still holds value in society and its themes of gender, comradery and shared struggle still hold merit and are just as powerful today.
The film Introduces us to a Military unit that is led by Petya Vaskov he is unaccustomed to leading women militarily or otherwise and creates a humorous tension throughout the first part of the film; During the second film we begin to see him evolve as a soldier and a leader when crisis begins and he see his officers as his family and his fellow combatants. His officers are just as diverse ranging from the mothers of Russians to mistresses and orphans who all share a common struggle the War on mother Russia. We see their histories unfold in the first part of the film giving the characters a rich depth from which we the audience can relate too, and during the second film we see these same girls become women all to quickly as each is willing to fight die and protect their fellow soldier.
The second half of the film they are dispatched to capture two soldiers who are moving past the frontlines but after encountering the Germany troops at the river the quickly realize that this was a 17 troop unit pushing forward to capture railways of the North. At first Vaskov was hoping to delay them while reinforcements arrived but fate had forced them to hold their positions to the death and stop the unit in its tracks outnumbered we see our characters hunt down track and confuse the enemy to the last soldier. Vaskov was the last man standing and managed to capture the last the Germans alive. Before the arrival of reinforcement.
The film used many different stategezies throughout to capture our attention early on we saw a very typical gendered conversation we saw Vastovs original unit of men and a little bit of comedic cross dressing, jokes about Russian soldiers who don't drink and chase women don't exist. Only to be thrown into another amusing social discourse about the two genders when he meets his new officers. What the movie did was created a space for which we the audience could also grow to see beyond the differences between men and women to see common middle grounds of the human condition.
The director also used color and memory in a unique way where our main story line was shot in black and white, but the future and past were colorized When remembering the scenes used color very intentionally as a tool with the actors and props rich in color but the set in a sterile white clashing with red shoes dress tablecloth etc. This transitions between black and white created a stable timeline between the narratives but also added layers to the black white that would had been absent otherwise. The director stayed true to the novel and did it in a way that was both clever and resourceful. The film is very worthwhile and still holds value in society and its themes of gender, comradery and shared struggle still hold merit and are just as powerful today.