Zvenigora
- 1928
- 1h 49m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
An old Ukrainian man protects and searches for a legendary treasure in the midst of political upheavals.An old Ukrainian man protects and searches for a legendary treasure in the midst of political upheavals.An old Ukrainian man protects and searches for a legendary treasure in the midst of political upheavals.
Nikolai Nademsky
- Grandpa
- (as N. Nademskiy)
- …
Semyon Svashenko
- Timoshka - first grandson
- (as S. Svashenko)
Aleksandr Podorozhnyy
- Pavel - second grandson
- (as L. Podorozhnyy)
Polina Sklyar-Otava
- Oksana
- (as P. Otawa)
- …
Georgi Astafyev
- Scythian leader
- (uncredited)
Leonid Barbe
- Monk
- (uncredited)
Nikolay Charov
- Pavel's Friend
- (uncredited)
Vladimir Lanskoy
- Spectator
- (uncredited)
Mariya Parshina
- Timoshka's wife
- (uncredited)
A. Simonov
- Fat Officer
- (uncredited)
Vladimir Uralskiy
- Peasant
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film was restored in 1973 at the Mosfilm studio with the assistance of Dovzhenko's widow, film director Yuliya Solntseva.
- Alternate versionsIn 2011, the film was digitally restored and added with music score by the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre. Running time of this version is 97 minutes. The music composed and performed by FUTUREthno, a Ukrainian-Polish band playing "ethnic music of the future". It was released in 2011, as part of the "Ukrainian Re-Vision" DVD-collection. Because the original Ukrainian intertitles were lost when they were cut and replaced with Russian intertitles in the mid-1930s, this restoration used Dovzhenko's script (published in "O. Dovzhenko's Works", 5 volumes, Kyiv: Dnipro, 1985) to reinstate the Ukrainian intertitles.
- ConnectionsEdited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Une vague nouvelle (1999)
Featured review
Astounding combination of Ukrainian folklore and future
Zvenigora is, in terms of narrative and content, one of the most remarkable avant-garde films of an exuberantly experimental period. The film uses the central construct of a legend regarding treasure buried in Mount Zvenigora to build a montage of scenes praising Ukrainian industrialisation, attacking the European bourgeoisie, celebrating the beauty of the Ukrainian steppe and re-telling ancient myths.
The narrative is built upon Modernist lines, disregarding the traditional, novelistic storytelling techniques and instead using abrupt shifts in time and using the constructive devices of avant-garde poets such as Blok, Bely and Mayakovsky to create a picture of modern Ukraine that pushes in several directions at once.
There are some incredibly striking tableaux that require the viewers to create a structure for themselves (such as the Bolshevik soldier directing his own execution) although the climax does draw the preceding events together, combining the dialectical threads of modern industry and the old man's myth together in two exhilarating scenes.
The cinematography is fascinating - elements of the style of Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Protazanov and Kuleshov are recognisable, yet Zvenigora seems completely different to any of them. The juxtaposition of rapid montages, swift city tours and slow, poetic journeys around the countryside is powerful, and the mythical scenes, although winding, are beautifully realised with a dreamlike quality to them.
Zvenigora is not Dovzhenko's masterpiece, if only because his Earth (1930) is one of the greatest Russian films ever made. However, it is highly recommended, although if you are new to Russian film of the period it is probably not the best place to start.
The narrative is built upon Modernist lines, disregarding the traditional, novelistic storytelling techniques and instead using abrupt shifts in time and using the constructive devices of avant-garde poets such as Blok, Bely and Mayakovsky to create a picture of modern Ukraine that pushes in several directions at once.
There are some incredibly striking tableaux that require the viewers to create a structure for themselves (such as the Bolshevik soldier directing his own execution) although the climax does draw the preceding events together, combining the dialectical threads of modern industry and the old man's myth together in two exhilarating scenes.
The cinematography is fascinating - elements of the style of Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Protazanov and Kuleshov are recognisable, yet Zvenigora seems completely different to any of them. The juxtaposition of rapid montages, swift city tours and slow, poetic journeys around the countryside is powerful, and the mythical scenes, although winding, are beautifully realised with a dreamlike quality to them.
Zvenigora is not Dovzhenko's masterpiece, if only because his Earth (1930) is one of the greatest Russian films ever made. However, it is highly recommended, although if you are new to Russian film of the period it is probably not the best place to start.
helpful•341
- gareth-28
- Nov 3, 2003
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- The Enchanted Place
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 49 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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