Burnt by the Sun

"Burnt by the Sun", directed by Nikita Mikhalkov, was a very moving film to watch. It was not only one of my favorite films we have watched so far in class, yet it was also very interesting and in-depth.

This film focused on Colonel Kotov, and follows his very close and personal relationships with both his wife Marusia and daughter Nadya. They seem to be a tight-knit family from the beginning, upholding Kotov as a very well-regarded individual. He is highly regarded not only within his family and close friends, but also within the community, a man to call upon when there is trouble. As the story developed, and we got an insight into what Kotov and Mitya's relationship entailed, I got more and more interested to see how it would turn out. I really liked Kotov, and thought that Mikhalkov did a great job in his performance. In comparison to Chapaev, I thought Kotov was more well-rounded. He had a great family, friends, reputation, and was very intelligent. We were shown that Chapaev is not very smart, yet he still knew how to please his rankings and keep them close to him. Kotov is VERY well respected, and upholds his strong beliefs about Stalin throughout.

I thought it was interesting when Mitya turned out to be involved in political things towards the end. Throughout Mitya's stay at the house, it seemed to affect Kotov, but not that much. He showed that he was a strong person, and knew that Marusia would always stay true to him, not relapsing towards her old flame. I found Mitya very conniving and obtrusive to the family, although he was welcomed. He won over Nadya with his piano playing and fun personlity, yet I didn't believe he was there for the right motives. I personally thought that Kotov was arrested with a personal motive behind it. Kotov said no matter what he would be for "the Russian people", and we knew that he was close with Stalin. I believe that Kotov was a very respected man, and had nothing to do with going behind Stalin's back.

The interesting ball of flame provoked interest as well..although I found it to be super random. Nadya singing the song throughout the film showed me that something bad was eventually going to happen. The line that had the words "crimson red sea flows" or something like that kind of hinted to me that blood would be shed and it would probably be Kotovs. I was somewhat happy at the end when Mitya was shown dead, because I think I got so attached to the strong relationship between Nadya and her father. Just thinking about all of the people that this probably happened to in Soviet Russia makes me angry. It shows me also that some of these Stalin followers in the end got screwed over more than others, although you would think it should be the other way around.