Viktor Shakhov Movies

The Commissar of the title, played by Nonna Mordyukova, is a Soviet functionary wielding power over a remote Jewish village. Neither she nor the villagers care for the status quo, but over a period of several weeks both come to accept the situation and to establish a detente. The film's pro-Semitism was not entirely in keeping with Soviet policy of the 1960s, thus the film was shelved and hidden from the general public. Only with the thawing of East-West relationships, and the political upheaval in Russia itself, was The Commissar deemed "safe" for general consumption. The film was finally distributed in 1988, twenty years after its completion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the Siberian springtime, old Yermolay is surprised to find his oldest son Stepan on his doorstep. Sentenced to prison for participating in a drunken brawl, he has just escaped, three months before his scheduled release date. Family from the countryside all around gather to celebrate his arrival, though by evening a policeman has arrived to take him back to serve out his old term, plus a little extra for his escape. Following this episode, moments in the lives of Yermolay's other sons are shown. Maxim has spent all the time he was not on the job (he is a construction worker) looking for a special medicine for his mother. He runs into a solid wall of resistance from the medical establishment. His younger brother Ignace, who is a popular professional wrestler, simply phones around to a few of his friends, and gets the medicine easily. Vasily, the youngest, shows himself to be far stronger and quicker than his somewhat boastful wrestling brother. These simple and lyrical celebrations of the simple life of country-folk are characteristic marks of director Vasily Shukshin's work; this film is based on some of the director's published short stories. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi