Educational Media Reviews Online

After viewing this film three times, the only term to aptly summarize it is "mesmerizing". Viktor Kossakovsy was born on July 19, 1961 in Leningrad, USSR, along with 100 other children. In 1995, he searched for these people to discover what they are doing with their lives. The result is funny and sad, horrifying and heartwarming. You see the attentive husband: "I've found you a thinner gherkin"; a man eating an ice cream cone: "Delicious"; a woman having a baby, a schoolteacher, a truck driver, a policeman, a man beaten by police, a mental patient. In short, you see a cross-section of life in today's Russia.

Kossakovsky is a skillful editor. According to the New Statesman the film is: "Skillfully edited to achieve a hypnotic rhythm, [leaving] the impression that life can be full of possibilities and pleasures." He seems to have simply set the camera in front of people and recorded them in their everyday lives. It is a fascinating view.

This film has won several awards, including the Fipresci Prize and the 1997 Berlin Film Festival, the Grand Prize at the 1997 Balticum Film and TV Festival, and the Observer Prize Winner at the Edinburgh Film Festival, among a few. It is truly a remarkable film.

There are several areas in the film where the presentation is totally unvarnished. It may not be deemed suitable or understood by high school or lower level undergraduate students. Highly recommend for upper level undergraduate or graduate courses in Russian History.

Other review sources:
Gerald Kaufman. "Wednesday 19.7.61" (movie reviews). New Statesman, July 17, 1998 v127 n4394 p. 43.

IDFA Magazine (online): http://www.damocles.nl.idfa/9711/catalogus/sreda.html