Commissar (1967)

            The film is based on a short story by Vasily Grossman entitled “In the Town of Beroychev”. It is set in a small town in Ukraine. It was directed by Aleksandr Askoldov. It is his only film because it got him in hot water. Although it was released during the Khrushchev Thaw, it got into trouble with the government’s censors. Askolddov refused to change the portrayal of the Jewish family. It also did not fit the heroic realism expected of Soviet films. The timing of its possible release during the 50^th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution meant it drew special attention and was deemed not patriotic enough.  Askoldov lost his job, was kicked out of the Communist Party, branded a social parasite, and was banned from making any more films. It was finally released in 1988 due to glasnost. It was awarded the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize at the 38^th Berlin International Film Festival.

            The movie takes place during the Russian Civil War. A Red Army unit moves into the town of Beroychev. One of the commissars is a woman named Klavdia (Nonna Nordyukova). She’s more manly than the men. When a deserter is captured, she has him executed. No man is going to be more communist than her. Suddenly, she finds herself pregnant. She is distressed. Having a baby that will interfere with her job of protecting communism is not very patriotic. She has tried hard to be considered just as good as the male officers and now this pregnancy is a clear reminder that she is still a woman. When the unit moves on, she is boarded with a Jewish family. The empathetic family softens her. The baby becomes less and less of a distraction from her career path. She ditches her uniform for civilian clothes and is accepted by the community. She bonds with the baby and even sings a lullaby, an act totally out of character. This idyllic life is threatened by the approach of the White Army. This is ominous for the Jewish family and reminds Klavkia that she is still officially a commissar. She has a decision to make.

            “Commissar” is made more interesting because of its back-story. I did not read up on it until after I had seen it. To tell the truth, I did not guess that the film was controversial. In fact, the film would not be considered controversial if it had been made and released during glasnost. I have seen a lot of Soviet films and this one does stand out. There are other portrayals of women in uniform, but this is the first one I have seen where there is a female officer as a main character. She is a commissar because the character must choose between the traditional life of a woman and the life of a dedicated communist. The other element that seems to foreshadow modern Russian cinema is the depiction of the Jewish family. Their ethnicity is not a major factor. Klavdia is not an anti-semite needing redemption. The film makes it clear that the arrival of the White Army will likely lead to a pogrom. The audience is not encouraged to root for this. “Commissar” has been credited with being the first Soviet film to show Jews sympathetically.  

It’s a bit pretentious. At one point, we see riderless horses running. Symbolism! There are odd camera angles and facial closeups. It’s a Soviet war film after all. So, you won’t be surprised that the main character is a respected officer. Spoiler alert: the main theme is motherhood or motherland. Kvadia is meant to be a role model for Soviet women. But is she a role model for mothers?  

“Commissar” is available with English subtitles on YouTube. While overrated, I recommend it because of the story behind it. I would not make it the first Soviet film you watch. There are plenty more that are better. 

GRADE  =  C 

ANATOMY OF A SCENE: Das Boot – Running the Strait

            “Das Boot” is the gold standard for submarine warfare movies. I have considered it to be a great movie, but not outstanding because of one scene. I have read several books on submarine warfare and the Battle of the Atlantic, so I know u-boat tactics. The tactics shown in the scenes depicting the attempt to run the strait of Gibraltar seemed puzzling to me, especially since the captain is portrayed as a good leader who would not make any stupid mistakes. Recently, my opinion on this flaw in the movie has reared its head again and has caused me to question whether I have been too harsh on the captain for this. So, I have rewatched the pertinent scenes and read the book version of the scenes to see if the movie followed the book and if so, was the captain wrong.

            In the movie, the sub is given orders to enter the Mediterranean Sea by way of the Strait of Gibraltar. The captain is well aware that this is a very risky mission because the strait is very well defended. It will take a good plan and a lot of luck. He decides to approach the strait in the dark on the surface. The boat will evade British ships to get close to the strait and then dive and use the eastward current to save fuel and safely run through the strait. No one on the crew questions the decision, but it is obvious some of the officers are skeptical. The boat manages to maneuver through several British ships and are within ten minutes of diving when the captain sends all the conning tower personnel below deck except himself and the navigator. A plane attacks and drops two bombs that damage the sub and wound the navigator. The captain orders “prepare to abandon ship”, but he stays topside and orders full speed ahead. The second officer guesses the captain is trying to reach shallower water off the coast of Africa. When the sub runs into several British ships, the captain is forced to dive. He plans to hold at 100 meters, but the damage causes the boat to continue its dive until it bottoms out at more than 280 meters, well below crush depth.

            Were the captain’s decisions good ones and do they conform to the captain in the book? In the book, the captain’s plan is the same as in the movie. No one questions them, but there is some doubt. Heading for the strait on the surface in the daytime, they are forced to dive three times because aircraft are spotted. None of the planes attacks. They are back on the surface when night falls. They are ten minutes from diving when the plane attacks. (In the book, the officers wonder how the plane was able to find them in the dark which is appropriate because in October, 1941 the RAF’s radar on planes would not have been known to the u-boat fleet.)  The conning tower is hit and the deck gun is destroyed. No one is wounded. The boat dives, but resurfaces due to the damage. However, star shells turns the night into day, so the captain orders a dive to 100 feet (I am not sure why the movie went with meters.) The boat continues to the bottom which is more than 825 feet deep.  

            The movie is close enough to the real incident, considering it’s a dramatization. Obviously, the director and screenwriter were not going to reenact three dives because of aircraft. And the dive to the bottom is close to what happened. They did have rivets busting, by the way. It’s not just a submarine movie cliché. However, the captain in the movie makes a very puzzling decision to stay on the surface after the plane attack that damages the sub. He does not explain his decision, but it seems like he would not have known the damage would cause the sub to sink. His order to race towards the African shallows is not explained, but we can give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he knew the boat might sink and he wanted it to be in shallower water. (That’s a big assumption.) This actually worked out because although the sub does go way below crush depth, if it had sunk where it had been damaged, it surely would have been crushed by the lower depth. Probably because of time constraints the movie does not show the boat diving after the attack (which would have been standard procedure), but having to surface because of damage. The captain is then forced to dive because the alternative is being a sitting duck. Because the movie edits out some of this, it makes the captain look like a gambler who loses his bet. In the movie, it is insane to stay on the surface after the plane attacks and clearly informs the warships about the sub. He does not know that diving will result in sinking. In fact, since the ship draws fire on the surface, it is likely the damage that causes the uncontrolled dive was due to a shell hitting on or near the boat.

            This analysis has led me to adjust my view on the movie’s depiction of the Strait of Gibraltar sequence. I still feels the movie captain makes a poor decision to stay on the surface after being attacked, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because we don’t know what he is thinking and the movie might have made decisions for dramatic effect. With that said, I still believe both the movie captain and the book captain were insane to go as far as they did on the surface, even at night. In the war, the u-boats that successfully ran the very well-defended strait did it submerged using the eastward current to narrow the speed loss from not being on the surface. 

            P.S. Let’s take the scenes a little further. The movie covers the repairs to the sub and its surfacing very close to the book. And I just want to add something that might not have been apparent to viewers. The sub would not have survived if the Chief had gotten his wish to go home and/or if the captain had shot Johann when he had his panic attack.

Submarine Base (1943)

 

               In my quest to watch every submarine movie, I forced myself to watch “Submarine Base”. After a u-boat sinks a ship, we find out the Germans were helped by an American gangster turned  traitor who provided the torpedoes. (Actually, if the torpedoes were American made, then you could argue he was a hero given the fact that our torpedoes were crap at this stage of the war.) The gangster is named Morgan (Alan Baxter). He picks up the only survivor and would you believe Taggert (John Litel) has a history with Morgan since he was a cop. Taggert is taken to an island where Morgan runs a bar and resort (and a secret torpedo shop). Also trapped on the island is a colorful cast of characters, including five show girls. Hubba, hubba! Ever the cop, Taggert goes snooping around. His efforts could win the war.

               This movie starts out terrible, but manages to just be bad. The acting is what you would expect from a 1940s B-movie. The only one in the cast that I recognized was Litel. He was an American who fought with the French army in WWI. He was decorated twice. If you are a baby boomer, you likely would recognize him too because he made  more than 200 movies and appeared in many tv series. He was Gen. Sheridan in “They Died With Their Boots On”.  “Submarine Base” was a typical low-budget entry on his resume. He managed to keep a straight face through the ridiculous premise. And he got to say this choice line: “I’ll spread that nose all over your face.” Taggert belonged in a film noir. The only positive thing I can say for this movie is that it has an interesting twist at the end. If you want to know what happens, you’ll have to bite the torpedo and waste 65 minutes of your life like I did.

GRADE  =  D

Officers (1971)

            “Officers” is a Soviet war film about the friendship of two Red Army officers over decades. The film war hops from the Russian Civil War to the Chinese Civil War to the Spanish Civil War to the Great Patriotic War. It was directed by Vladimir Rogovoy.

             Alexei (Georgi Yumatov) and Ivan (Vassily Lanovoy) meet when Alexei and his wife arrive at a frontier post. They strike up a comradeship and capture a mujahideen leader. They rescue Alexei’s wife when she is kidnapped. After the original posting, the movie concentrates on Alexei and his family. Their paths cross when Alexei is a military adviser to Mao’s forces in the Chinese Civil War and Ivan is undercover with the communists. Alexei is a tanker in the Spanish Civil War. His son Yegor becomes a decorated war hero in WWII and Alexei is honored as a Hero of the Soviet Union. Years after, the two friends meet again and both are generals. 

            With a plot covering four wars and multi-generations, you would think the movie would be a miniseries. Would you believe the opposite. It clocks in at 1 hour and 36 minutes! I have found no mention that it was heavily edited. This seems odd because there are scenes that are truncated and hint at much better scenes that were cut. There are huge time jumps that leave you wondering what is happening to Alexei and Ivan in the interims. For instance, what are they doing during WWI? There is a scene in the Chinese Civil War, and none in the Great War? That seems very odd to me. Perhaps Soviet audiences did not want to be reminded of that war, but nothing also from the Russian Civil War? The movie needed to be twice as long to do justice to the pair. Or to do justice to Ivan. The movie is the story of two men, but it is really the story of Alexei with occasional appearances by Ivan.  

            The movie is very overrated. The acting is average. There is very little action and it lacks suspense. Frankly, I found it boring. I am a big fan of Soviet war movies, but I do not consider this one to be an exemplary one. The frustrating thing is that it could have been much better.

GRADE  =  D