The film starts in 1896, with students who heckle their professor at the St. Petersburg University, and ends with the 1905 revolution. It’s a story of a generation, from the first underground meetings to the armed uprising of Moscow’s working class. Stroyeva, “a strong Soviet filmmaker” as Georges Sadoul called her, was required to adopt a high classical style in 1936, and displays her proficiency in this revolutionary fresco that captivates like an adventure novel. The composition of the shots, the use of architecture and the depth of field are remarkable, as is her sense for musical counterpoint: in one of the final scenes, the revolution, not yet visible on the screen, is heard by one of the protagonists. Grigori Roshal has stated that with this film intended for a mass audience, Stroyeva received even Eisenstein’s praise. The film’s reputation also rests on its performers, borrowed from the Moscow stage: Boris Shchukin, the most famous Lenin impersonator, who was taught by Yevgeny Vakhtangov and became the leader of the troupe after the master’s death, in a role that once more evokes Lenin; Nikolai Khmelyov, a star of the Moscow Art Theatre that he would eventually manage (“the greatest tragedy actor in Europe” said Lion Feuchtwanger); Ksenia Tarasova, who would shine for 30 years at the Maly Theatre; Vera Maretskaya, also trained by Vakhtangov before a great career in theatre and cinema (Boris Barnet’s Dom na Trubnoy, 1928, Fridrikh Ermler’s Ona zashchishchaet rodinu, She Defends the Motherland, 1943, Mark Donskoy’s Selskaya uchitelnitsa, The Village Teacher, 1947); Maria Sinelnikova, another remarkable representative of the Vakhtangov style; and Nikolai Plotnikov, taught by Michael Chekhov at the Moscow Art Theatre and whose 60-year theatrical career cannot be summarised here. Most of them are ‘eminent artists’ of the Soviet Union, awarded with many medals and prizes. Russian spectators, familiar with them, always enjoy seeing them again: young, beautiful, funny and moving. For others, the film offers a chance to discover an ensemble of exceptional actors, giving an insight into the great school of Russian realism.

Irène Bonnaud and Bernard Eisenschitz