+5
The Cranes are Flying
With war movies, it isn’t necessarily about the war itself, but the characters in them, and the effects the war has on said characters.
Veronika (Tatiana Samoilova) and Boris (Aleksy Batalov) are two such characters. Lovers torn apart by war, they both live their lives trying to survive, in their own manner. The film focuses mainly on Veronika, and it’s easy to see why. She’s the heart and soul of this film.
Samoilova is just simply amazing here. The way she carries herself throughout the film, and how she is able to express her emotions through her eyes, her facial expressions, all told with such fierce determination.
I won’t go into the plot because it how the plot is told that matters. The directors camerawork is among the best I’ve seen from that time. From the way Veronika runs through smoke and oncoming tanks to the scene where she runs past a fence. And the little details. Like how she wears a black dress for the entirety of the war and when the soldiers return, she wears white as she awaits for her lover to return.
Such an amazing film. But of course, this HOF is full of them.