“Life and Fate” is a Russian television series that is available on Amazon Prime. It is based on the novel by Vasily Grossman. Grossman, a Russian Jew, was a war correspondent during WWII. He was an eyewitness to many battles, including Stalingrad. The novel has been compared to “War and Peace”. It is sprawling (871 pages) with many characters. The novel was controversial because of its criticisms of the Stalinist system. It equated Nazi totalitarianism with Soviet totalitarianism. The KGB confiscated the manuscript and all his notes, but he had given copies to two friends and it was smuggled to the West where it was published in 1980. (He had finished it in 1960.) It was finally published in Russia in 1988 as part of Gorbachev’s glasnost policy.
The series is twelve parts and does a good job covering the book. The book has basically three threads: a nuclear scientist and his work in the scientific community, Soviet soldiers in the Battle of Stalingrad, and life in the Nazi concentration camps and Soviet gulags. The movie omits the concentration camp scenes. The main character is Victor Shtrum who represents Grossman. He is a nuclear physicist who is Jewish, but his brilliant theories cause his bosses to overlook that. It’s his dedication to pure science over doctrinal science that gets him in trouble. He is a pompous jerk, but a man of principle. Most of the episodes jump back and forth between Shtrum, his family, and science friends and the fighting men in Stalingrad. Much of the Stalingrad scenes involve the defense of a house (probably based on Pavlov’s house). The “house manager” is a rogue warrior named Grekov. He butts heads with a commissar named Krymov. Shtrum’s stepson is one of Grekov’s men. There is a love triangle involving a pretty radio operator. The house is surrounded by Germans and under constant attack. Another main character is Novikov, who commands a tank battalion in the counteroffensive. Both Krymov and Novikov will end up accused of being less than staunch Stalinists. Their lack of guilt is a damning indictment of the military justice system.
I have recently been taking advantage of Amazon Prime’s stock of Russian war series. Previously, I watched “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” and “Night Swallows”. Those two evince the two extremes of quality in Russian TV productions. “Life and Fate” is closer to “Dawns” and probably had a higher budget. It looks like a lot of money and effort went into it. This is especially true of the Stalingrad sets. The rubble is impressive. The action matches it as the combat scenes are exhilarating. This is actually a weakness because when the series shifts from House 6/1 to the Shtrum’s family and friends, there is a let-down. It is jarring to go from gritty war drama to soap opera. Plus, Shtrum is not an appealing character. (He was not meant to be.) And the scientific discussions are dry. There is a love affair involving Shtrum and the wife of his best friend, but it is tepid. Midway through, Shtrum gets transferred back to Moscow and has conflicts with his doctrinaire bosses. His thread becomes more interesting right around the time that House 6/1 falls and all the intriguing characters that make up Grekov’s unit leave the show. The second half concentrates on politics as Shtrum, Krymov, and Novikov all run into problems with the authorities. In the case of Krymov, this is dripping with irony as he is a hard-core communist. Shtrum gets to stand up for his principles. Novikov finds out that victory is trumped by stepping on apparatchik toes.
Having not read the doorstopper Russian novel, I can’t say how well the series mirrors the book. It appears to tone down the anti-Stalinist theme. In fact, Stalin comes riding to the rescue of Shtrum’s career at a moment when those pesky principles get him in trouble. The movie is far from a comedy, but it is amusing to watch how the same people who were condemning Shtrum for his breakthrough theory being off the reservation suddenly become fawners when the phone call for the great leader becomes known. It is equally ironic, but less amusing, to watch Krymov get tortured by his commissar peers.
For war movie fans, the reason to watch is the sequences in Stalingrad. The characters defending the house are intriguing and you care about their fates. A miniseries based on Pavlov’s House would be great, thank you. It is a microcosm of the battle and does an excellent job depicting the harshness of the combat and the living conditions. You may not care what happens to some Soviet egg-heads, but you will care about what happens to the grunts. The series pulls no punches. It’s not combat porn, but it is visceral. For instance, there is a scene where the Soviets bomb a German unit gathering for a ceremony. The randomness of death is a focus of the series.
“Life and Fate” is not as good as “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”, but it is a cut above the usual Russian TV series. It is an epic based on an epic. The best thing about it is the next time you are invited to the Russian embassy for a formal dinner, you won’t have to read the book. You can spend a lot less time and effort by watching the series and still hold an informed conversation about one of the most famous Russian novels of the 20th Century. Don’t just watch the combat scenes, you Neanderthal.
GRADE = B-
