Hacker Cinema
The White Sun of the Desert
Белое солнце пустыни
1969 · Film · 83 min
Directed by Vladimir Motyl
The setting is the east shore of the Caspian Sea (today's Turkmenistan) where the Red Army soldier Fyodor Sukhov has been fighting the Civil War in Russian Asia for a number of years. After being hospitalised and then demobbed, he sets off home to join his wife, only to be caught up in a desert fight between a Red Army cavalry unit and Basmachi guerrillas. The cavalry unit commander, Rahimov, "convinces" Sukhov to help, temporarily, with the protection of abandoned women of the Basmachi guerrilla leader Abdullah's harem. Leaving a young Red Army soldier, Petrukha, to assist Sukhov with the task, Rahimov and his cavalry unit set out to pursue fleeing Abdullah.Sukhov and women from Abdullah's harem return to a nearby shore town. Soon, looking for a seaway across the border, Abdullah and his gang come to the same town...
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7 comments on Hacker News
« Tonnerre de Brest ! »
AG's done Peremen as well; my favourite on this is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpIzFRIX60E&t=910 , of which Silenzium would disapprove, but Cordwainer approve.
As to Zapad, I have to admit Igla has near-zapadern levels of violence/sex ratio... up until now I'd thought White Sun of the Desert was about as far as one ever got in union film.
Do you have any idea which came first, HOI or Polandball?
The quality of recommendations depends on the social circle, I guess. When the Russian Guild of Film Critics picked the 100 best movies from 1908 to 2000, "Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession" didn't make it to the list, but the other movies I mentioned did: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls006516589/
That list includes everything from the Wes Anderson-esque "Beware of the Car" to the gritty Western-in-the-East "White Sun of the Desert", to "Come and See", a truly disturbing war drama. Lots to choose from, and many notable omissions still remain, like the wonderful 1977 comedy "Mimino" about a rural helicopter pilot who dreams of flying large airliners, and the "Peculiarities of the National Hunt" from 1995 depicting a Finn with overly romanticized expectations coming to Russia to learn about the traditional hunting customs.
My wife has an entire blog of them: https://lockdowntransmissions.wordpress.com/2022/01/03/the-covideo-awards-2021/ ; my faves of that list are The Silencers (Dean Martin does a Bond spoof), and Robo-Vampire (low budget knockoff Robocop fights Chinese vampires, incredible nonsense ensues)
I'd add Theater of Blood (Vincent Price thespian camp horror with a large number of cameos from British character actors of the 1970s), Tomorrow I’ll Wake Up And Scald Myself With Tea (Soviet time-travel twin-swap comedy), and White Sun Of The Desert, which is traditionally watched by astronauts in their last night of pre-launch quarantine at Baikonur. https://24htech.asia/i-was-bored-so-i-watched-the-movie-that-astronauts-must-view-before-launch-s425563.html ; that has some legitimately great shots in it.
To the original question, if you like technicolor you owe it to yourself to see Singin' In The Rain, not just for the title dance sequence but several other big numbers.
The other day I watched "White Sun of the Desert", and found it excellent: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066565/ - very much reminded me of the Dollars trilogy.
(recommendation from Chris Hadfield, of all people; apparently this film is traditional to watch the night before Soyuz launches)
Spasibo for the review. I'll have to watch it beyond the "is power money or truth?" scene now :) Incidentally, your last sentence reflects upon the US police problem, because some of them seem to have taken a comic-book anti-hero "The Punisher" as an inspiration, or at least someone whose symbology to wear.
I agree that bad ideas should be allowed in discussions[1]. If we're still talking about the same poor idea, it's probably a good idea if one quashes the ideas (whether poor or good) that run afoul of a platform's violence[2] policy https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/glorification-of-violence "You may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people" (maybe reword your poor ideas to avoid saying "the shooting starts" in a country that distinguishes between assault and battery?) before publishing on that platform. I believe Theodore Roosevelt found his office a bully pulpit (note: not a bully pulpit) despite his lack of FB and TWTR.
Thanks also for the clarification of russian culture[3]. That sounds more advanced than anglophone (I am guessing the UK is not significantly more advanced than the US on this front, as Orwell makes it abundantly clear in both his fiction and nonfiction that he is a product of the english middle class), but I have no good suggestions for anglophones beyond education, which takes time. (not to mention that in the world of unvaccinated coronavirus, a two-student schooldesk is unlikely to be introduced in the US), time which is probably beyond the US Buxton Index[4].
[1] an advantage earlier US politicians had is that journalists would routinely rewrite even their on-the-record spoken comments to be more palatable in print. ("more" is an important qualifier here; Earl Butz resigned despite the fact that his jokes had been edited for taste when being reported)
[2] one amusing thing comparing US and USSR 70's and 80's movies is the completely different censorship. On one side you get very little blood, on the other very few breasts. (as for beasts, they're either scary or befriended. both systems agreed pirates are always villains) I was surprised by the ending to White Sun of the Desert because it was the first I'd seen a soviet shoot-out.
[3] I've learned some russian from Lavrov's poetry. Does anyone have suggestions for which pieces of Pompeo I might improve my english with?
[4] I learned of the Buxton Index from Dijkstra. Something else that stuck with me is that he said, as a young dutchman, he was educated to never start speaking a sentence before one knows how one is going to finish it. Maybe the equivalent for twitter should be "don't start typing before you've thought through the 140th character?" More cynically, the old IBM slogan ought to be revived: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-five-letter-word-built-104-year-old-company-180955899/
White Sun of the Desert is a very good movie, too! Somewhere in the vicinity of Indiana Jones or the Man With No Name westerns, but with more heart and tenderness.
Oh, they have "White Sun of the Desert" there - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066565, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yia2azQd4GY
This is the movie that is traditionally watched by all departing space crews on the night prior to the launch. This has been going on since the early days of the Soviet space program and it appears to be continuing to this day. Great movie, highly recommended.