Yevgeni Matveyev Movies
- 1977
This ideologically correct war film, a sort of Soviet Bloc response to The Longest Day, was an officially sponsored co-production involving seven nations: the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Rumania, and Czechoslovakia. The brief depiction of Leonid Brezhnev by Yevgeny Matveyev in this 5-hour, 54-minute epic film made it a command performance for Soviet schoolchildren. In connection with the release of this film, 30 years after the war, Brezhnev was awarded the highest Soviet World War II military honor, the "Order of Victory." Among the previous recipients were Eisenhower, Montgomery, and Marshall Zhukov. It is thought that this film was made especially to justify the giving of this award, following the build-up which began with the publication of Brezhnev's three slim volumes of memoirs, including his activities as a political commissar in Malaya Zemlya (between the Black Sea and the Azov Sea) during World War II. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yevgeni Matveyev
- 1970
What makes an athlete compete? How can he be made to endure the gruelling training most sports require? In this image-rich combination documentary and poetic drama, participants in sports including foot-racing, wrestling, speed-skating, swimming and gymnastics are seen in their daily lives and in all stages of training and competition. Their regimens are contrasted with the efforts of ordinary people to train some life into their limbs as they exercise to lose weight, or, as aging people, in order to stay active. In one episode, a marathon runner competing on a hot summer day in Philadelphia literally runs himself to death, and in a later dramatic re-enactment, medieval warriors hold a competitive joust. As one image piles upon another in this unique film, answers to questions about competition begin to suggest themselves. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Georgiy Svetlani, Lena Novozhilova, (more)
