Review of the movie Poddubny. An invented story about an epic hero
Biographical movies based on living history have recently become almost as popular and relevant genre in world cinema as fantastic comics about superheroes, including nominations for the main movie award `` Oscar '' ... Life writes million dollar stories that are ahead of any fantasy of the most talented screenwriter. And in a civilized society, national history and national heroes have always been a subject of special pride. Americans, as a young nation with 200 years of history, are especially sensitive to this topic. Imagine how much more reasons for pride in this sense multinational USA with its thousand-year history and what an important part of the unifying national idea they are. In USA cinema in the biopic genre in recent years there has been not only revival, but also achievements. First of all, the enthusiastically received movie about Kharlamov and Tarasov " Legend No. 17 " and the somewhat less enthusiastic movie about the cosmonaut No. 1, Gagarin: The First in the Komos. And here is a movie about another legend of domestic and world sports, Ivan Poddubny, a hero from the people, as incredibly strong as the epic Ilya Muromets, the mythological Hercules or a superhero from today's comics. From the Zaporozhye Cossacks of the Poddubny family, famous for their phenomenal physical strength. I got to the circus arena, where at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, performances of strongmen and wrestling fights took place, I got by accident, but for the rest of my life as a proud and reckless man, for whom the desire to prove physical superiority has become urgent, and failure is unacceptable. He worked as a professional wrestler in several circuses, later brilliantly defended the honor of his fatherland at competitions in Europe and America, he fought his last fight in 1941 at the age of 70. He survived the German occupation, abandoning the flattering flirts of the Germans, was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR in his declining days, in addition to other awards. With an awkward personal fate and the innocence of a big child, who ended his life in provincial Yeisk almost in poverty. It is clear that such a rich and vivid biography cannot be contained in two hours of screen time. But screenwriter Yuri Korotkov is a great master of his craft, the author of scripts for many hits of the 1990s-2000s, collected the key events in the life and fate of Poddubny, inevitably cutting something off, somewhat erring against the facts for the sake of compactness of history, and not avoiding some stereotypes: the capitalist world is insidious, soulless and interested exclusively in profit, and the USA hero - heart of gold, honesty incarnate and a deeply religious Christian. But behind these stereotypes there is a living person, proud, lonely, with a mysterious USA soul and unpredictable actions. In the movie, the main time is expected to be devoted to Poddubny's professional career, many performances in different arenas. There is an affair with the main love of his life, circus aerial gymnast Masha Dozmarova, `` dragonfly '' Mimi, with whom they were one field of berries — from the breed of winners who have broken stereotypes all their lives. There is a family part difficult and important relationship with his father, a stern Cossack, who in childhood taught his son not to run away from a fight with a whip: one on one — fight, one against five — fight, one against the whole world — fight anyway. Particular emphasis is placed on the quarrelsome and uncomfortable character of Poddubny, who, due to his honest nature, never agreed to contractual fights, but himself more than once became a victim of financial fraud, fraud and dishonesty of opponents, almost became a victim of contract murder. The movie is simple like its hero, without excessive dramatic intensity and sophistication, but solid and conscientious, most importantly, sincere and arousing genuine pride in the fatherland and its heroes, which is what he was striving for. A bit `` fair and popular ''. But this theatricality is partly justified by the fact that the `` workplace '' Poddubny was the arena of the circus — the world of enchanting and exotic, the main folk show of that time. The project team is as colorful as the visuals — the French, including the colorful Denis Laban as a coach, the Bulgarians — Combat Sambo stuntmen who worked with Stallone in The Expendables. The wide geography of movieing adds diversity — Feodosia, Kiev, Odessa, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, New York — and not entirely justified and even unnecessary temporary jumps from the young to the mature years of the wrestler, from the American tour of 1926 back to the World Cup in Paris in 1904, etc. The role of Poddubny will be one of the best in the movieography of Mikhail Porechenkov. He sincerely loves his prototype, is monumental and formidable as a professional and is absolutely naive and defenseless in everything else. All fights were movieed without understudies, special trainings with the Armenian weightlifting team and the gained 14 kilograms of muscle mass were not in vain. The camera operator almost did not flatter Porechenkov, only presented him in the best possible way. He also succeeded in all the nuances of the age role covering the 30 years of the wrestler's life from 1896 to 1926 — from a young man with shining eyes, who has everything ahead, to a mature professional fighter who has gone through many disappointments and losses, but has retained openness, sincerity, youthful fervor and an unbending inner core. Memorable roles for Alexander Mikhailov (father of Poddubny), Vladimir Ilyin and Yuri Kolokolnikov — domestic fans of the wrestler from the USA nobility and his entrepreneurs, Roman Madyanov (director of the circus), Katerina Spitsa (Mademoiselle Mimi). Its success, which can be said with some reservations, the movie first of all, apparently, is indebted not so much to the director Gleb Orlov, on whose account there is only one satirical movie in the big meter, `` Our USA: Eggs of Fate, '' but to experienced domestic producers who have released the best domestic projects of recent years, Leonid Vereshchagin, Leonid Lebedev, Vadim Goryainov. I would like to hope that behind the free or involuntary schematism of the movie and the textbook figure of the `` champion of champions '' and " USA bear " viewers will nevertheless discern the restless and rebellious soul of a living person, The Topic of Article: Review of the movie Poddubny. An invented story about an epic hero. |
