Educational Media Reviews Online

Sergey Dvortsevoy’s film Bread Day is a stark look at the forgotten face of the new Russia. Set in the remote village of “Township #3,” located some 50 miles north of St. Petersburg, the film focuses on a group of elderly pensioners and the weekly arrival of a freight car full of bread to their town. Dvortsevoy turns an unblinking eye on this ritual known by the locals as “Chlebni den” (Bread day), and the heated, almost animalistic interaction between the villagers as they struggle to obtain their portion of the life-giving bread. From the slow panning by the camera across a desolate winter landscape, to visions of stray goats wandering through empty streets, the director strives to emphasize the bleakness of the pensioner’s environment.

The film opens with a small group of townsfolk meeting the bread train at a nearby rail junction. After disconnecting the freight car from the train, they then begin the arduous 2 hour task of pushing it by hand all the way back to their village. Dvortsevoy trains his camera on this scene for a good 5-10 minutes, rather than a 1-2 minute shot followed by a jump cut, in order to emphasize the difficulty of this labor. Once back at the town, the work of distributing the bread begins. Dvortsevoy attaches his camera to the counter of the local grocery store, placing it so that it covers the interaction between the bread seller and her customers…and there is plenty to be seen. As the bread supplies begin to dwindle, tempers start to flare. Customers rant and curse at the seller, yet she gives as good as she gets. One elderly man even takes time out of his verbal assault on the grocer to yell at the camera operators. Though the film’s dialog is entirely in Russian, the English subtitles leave nothing at all to the viewer’s imagination. The language is very explicit at times, and is likely to offend those with delicate sensibilities. The film comes to an end with the image of several townspeople pushing the now empty freight car back up to the junction.

Bread Day has received many awards, such as the 1998 St. Petersburg Film Festival’s Golden Centaur Award for Best Festival Film, the 1998 Leipzig DOK Festival’s Golden Dove Award for Best Long Footage, and the 1998 Taiwan International Documentary Festival’s Special Jury’s Prize. It was also well received at the 1998 Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York, and the 1999 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.

Due to its adult language and candid portrayal of rural poverty life, this video may not be suitable for high school or lower level undergraduate students. Highly recommended for upper level undergraduate or graduate courses in Russian History or perhaps even Sociology/Anthropology.

Other review sources:
IDFA Festival 98 (online): http://www.idfa.nl/festival/filmlist/hlebn.html