Vera Kuznetsova

Grigori Chukrai is well-respected director, known in the West for his films Clear Skies and Ballad of a Soldier. Netipichnaya Istoriya, the original title, translates as "An Atypical Story," but the film was soon retitled Tryasina, which means "Quagmire." It shows how mother's blind love transforms her son into a deserter, bringing the boy to a kind of moral and social death. During World War Two, a widow is about to lose her only son to the military. Unable to bear that kind of loss, she engineers an accident just as she is taking him to the train station to begin his enlistment. Secretly, she takes her now helpless son back to her village home, and becomes an eccentric hermit in the eyes of the villagers, rarely venturing outside the house. At home, the boy becomes deeply dependent on her, even though they snipe and jab at one another in an incessant war for dominance. Years after the war has ended, his mother dies suddently of a heart attack. The boy has now become a pale, wizened bag of bones, and emerges from the house like some creature from the depths of the sea. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this provocative Soviet drama, an aged couple are left homeless after their farm burns down, and they head off to live with their impoverished daughter. When they arrive, they are appalled to learn that she has abandoned her child and husband to run away with a married man. The husband is now an alcoholic, so the grandparents stay on to support their son-in-law in his time of need and to help care for their grandson. Later, the errant daughter is dumped by her lover and returns. Many fights ensue until the grandfather banishes his troublesome daughter from their lives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Only mildly propagandistic, the Russian A Big Family is capable of entertaining even the most entrenched of anti-communists. The title refers to the workers dedicated to the betterment of Russia's ship-building industry. The bulk of the storyline is carried by an amorous young ship-welder, who does the Right Thing when his girlfriend becomes pregnant. The villain is the manager of the workers' fraternal club, who absconds with the club's fund (the capitalist cad!) One of the more surprising aspects of A Big Family (especially considering its vintage) is the satirical character of a "dedicated" commissar who nonetheless succumbs to Western influence by purchasing two cars (gasp!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide