The Cranes Are Flying (1957)

Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov. Starring Tatiana Samoilova, Aleksey Batalov, Aleksandr Shvorin, Vasili Merkuryev, Svetlana Kharitonova, Konstantin Nikitin, Antonina Bogdanova, Valentin Zubkov, Boris Kokovin, Yekaterina Kupriyanova.

Sterling cross-pollination of love story and anti-war film set in Moscow during the second World War. Batalov volunteers for service, leaving behind his devoted lover (Samoilova); in his absence, she is raped by and shamed into an unhappy marriage with his degenerate cousin (Shvorin), but continues carrying a torch for her beloved amid all of her tragedies, hoping against hope for his return. A forceful and refreshingly apolitical message, delivered with conviction. Fresh-faced Samoilova is divine, yet her genuineness keeps her too grounded to ever be reduced to a symbol of purity and innocence, and Sergey Urusevsky’s expressive camerawork is brilliant throughout, emerging as a more riveting focal point than any single character or story thread. The only film from the Soviet Union to ever win the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

94/100