WARNING: The spoilers are also flying.
Watching The Cranes are Flying finally made me fully understand why I'm still working on this project. A lot of the time I get kind of worn out with this little experiment. I think to myself, "I don't want to watch all of this random stuff, I just want to watch Mean Girls and Fargo and talk about movies that I already know that I love." I have to force myself to bump foreign films and documentaries up to the top of my Netflix queue, and then I shudder a little bit when they show up in the mail. I know that I started this project myself, and nothing is forcing me to complete it, but I really feel like I've committed myself to it and now I have to stick it out, even through the things that I don't like or don't want to see. Then, miraculously, on my train ride to Seattle I watched The Cranes are Flying and I remembered why I wanted to start this in the first place.
I mentioned in my post for M that it's one of my favorite films, but I failed to mention that the first time I saw it was for a film history class. If it hadn't been for that class it might have taken me years to sit down and watch M, or I may never have seen it at all. The List did a similar thing for me with The Cranes are Flying. If it hadn't been on The List I probably would have never even heard of it, let alone seen it. Which would have been a great tragedy, because it's remarkable. In 97 minutes it manages to allow the audience to fully connect with the main character, Veronika, and almost feel her pain right along with her. On top of that, it's uniquely and beautifully filmed in a way that I would have never expected a 1950's Russian film to be (not that I know much about Russian film, but The Cranes are Flying certainly shattered all of my expectations).
The Cranes are Flying is about two people in love. Veronika (played by Tatyana Samojlova, who reminds me of a Russian Audrey Hepburn or Natalie Wood) is in love with Boris (played by Aleksey Batalov), but Boris goes off to fight in the war and Veronika is left alone. What's even more heartbreaking is that she doesn't get to say goodbye. When she goes to his house to see him off he is already gone, and she gets lost in the crowd when she goes to find him with the other soldiers. Her only token of him is a squirrel doll that he got her for her birthday, chosen because his nickname for her is Squirrel. Their love is sweet and pure, and watching her face as she realizes that she's not going to see him for one last time before he goes to the front is heartbreaking.
I think what I really liked about The Cranes are Flying is the fact that even though it's definitely about war, it's really just about people. I found myself actively feeling bad for Veronika, honestly wishing that Boris was still alive and was coming back to her. I don't often feel that for characters in movies. I mean, I care about the characters, but I fully wanted to believe that Boris wasn't dead and that the couple would get to live the life that they were planning together. And when she finally realized that he was really, truly not coming back I had to stop myself from crying on the train between Portland and Seattle. It was like how I sometimes feel when I watch Moulin Rouge (which, tragically, is not on The List). I find myself actively hoping that Satine won't die and she and Christian will continue to be happy and in love. Sometimes I even stop the DVD before she dies and pretend that it ends that way. But, alas, it is not. Nor is it that way in The Cranes are Flying. Which is tragic, but probably much better for the integrity of the film.
I am genuinely glad that I have seen The Cranes are Flying. It's a movie that I will recommend to people, and it's something that I would show to a film class if I was ever lucky enough to be teaching a film class. And I have nothing but The List and this project to thank for it. For the first time in a few months I am supremely happy that I am taking this on because it has exposed me to something that I can truly and honestly say that I love. It has renewed my faith in foreign films and The List, and I just could not be happier about it. So thank you, The Cranes are Flying. Now I won't dread it when a foreign film shows up in my mailbox.
The Cranes are Flying is about two people in love. Veronika (played by Tatyana Samojlova, who reminds me of a Russian Audrey Hepburn or Natalie Wood) is in love with Boris (played by Aleksey Batalov), but Boris goes off to fight in the war and Veronika is left alone. What's even more heartbreaking is that she doesn't get to say goodbye. When she goes to his house to see him off he is already gone, and she gets lost in the crowd when she goes to find him with the other soldiers. Her only token of him is a squirrel doll that he got her for her birthday, chosen because his nickname for her is Squirrel. Their love is sweet and pure, and watching her face as she realizes that she's not going to see him for one last time before he goes to the front is heartbreaking.
I think what I really liked about The Cranes are Flying is the fact that even though it's definitely about war, it's really just about people. I found myself actively feeling bad for Veronika, honestly wishing that Boris was still alive and was coming back to her. I don't often feel that for characters in movies. I mean, I care about the characters, but I fully wanted to believe that Boris wasn't dead and that the couple would get to live the life that they were planning together. And when she finally realized that he was really, truly not coming back I had to stop myself from crying on the train between Portland and Seattle. It was like how I sometimes feel when I watch Moulin Rouge (which, tragically, is not on The List). I find myself actively hoping that Satine won't die and she and Christian will continue to be happy and in love. Sometimes I even stop the DVD before she dies and pretend that it ends that way. But, alas, it is not. Nor is it that way in The Cranes are Flying. Which is tragic, but probably much better for the integrity of the film.
I am genuinely glad that I have seen The Cranes are Flying. It's a movie that I will recommend to people, and it's something that I would show to a film class if I was ever lucky enough to be teaching a film class. And I have nothing but The List and this project to thank for it. For the first time in a few months I am supremely happy that I am taking this on because it has exposed me to something that I can truly and honestly say that I love. It has renewed my faith in foreign films and The List, and I just could not be happier about it. So thank you, The Cranes are Flying. Now I won't dread it when a foreign film shows up in my mailbox.
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