V. Yakovlev Movies

No relation to the French Erreur de Jeunesse, the Russian Errors of Youth was 10 years in the making. Filmmaker Boris Frumin began the project in 1979, but the Soviet government found the film too close to reality for public consumption. A relaxing of censorship towards the end of the 1980s enabled Frumin to complete his film and enter it in several international festivals. It is easy to see why the old Soviet regime was dead-set against Errors of Youth back in 1979: the hero (Stanislav Zhadanko) embarks upon a film-length verbal rampage against virtually every element of life under communist rule. The man can't get any satisfaction in his relationships with the opposite sex, either, and it is this aspect of Errors of Youth that gives the film an aura of universality. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Original released in 1939 as Uchitel, The New Teacher was the third of Sergei Gerasimov's trilogy of tributes to the "new generation" of working Soviets. Boris Chirkov heads the cast as Stephan Lautin, a country boy who seeks out success in the Big City. Through pluck and luck, Lautin realizes his goal, only to give it all up to return to his home village, there to apply the life lessons he's learned as a provincial schoolteacher. The film's most fascinating character is Lautin's sweetheart Agrafena (Tamara Makarova), a vacillating vixen who changes moods as often as she changes her hairstyle. Not as propagandistic as Gerasimov's previous films, The New Teacher was hailed as the director's most heartfelt project. Unfortunately, he quickly returned to pro-Communist dogma, later dismissing New Teacher as being a slick but unimportant trifle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This four hour long Russian epic chronicles the effects of Stalin's regime on a single family. The story begins in 1947, and follows the family for 10 years. As the film opens, young Kostia, the son of a Ukrainian father and a Jewish mother, heads off for his new school. There he is taught to literally worship Stalin as the ultimate symbol of their country. To him, the children are supposed to selflessly devote their lives. So oppressed were the people of that time that parents would say nothing to their children of their past lives or true beliefs. They did this to protect them. Like many Moscow residents, Kostia's family shared their dwelling with two other families. The lack of space created much tension. Heated discussions of politics intervened in every gathering. Later as Kostia grew older, he became involved in many fights among the street kids. He also witnessed the effects the new regime had upon family hierarchies and social structure. Despite the repression outside his home, his family quietly did all they could to keep the boy from believing everything he learned in school and in the Communist youth organization he belonged to. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi