1971-1980 Euro Westerns Nikita Mikhalkov USSR Western

Nikita Mikhalkov – Svoy sredi chuzhikh, chuzhoy sredi svoikh AKA At Home Among Strangers, A Stranger Among His Own (1974)

adminMay 21, 2018

0 2,696

Quote:
An unenviable lot fell to the Red Army soldier Shilov: he is being suspected of stealing gold. In the hungry 1920s, the young Soviet Republic’s government searches for gold all over the country, to buy for it bread from abroad. And now, the collected valuables disappeared from the armored and well-guarded train car on their way to Moscow. Shilov learns that the valuables have been stolen by the bandits. To restore his good reputation, Shilov has to infiltrate the band. To find out where the stolen gold is kept, he must be at home among the strangers.
A debut of the world-famous director Nikita Mikhalkov, this film is an excellent model of a “western,” having a very ingenious plot, and, most importantly, being a hymn to men’s true friendship.

Mikhalkov’s probably only true masterpiece, best-ever “borshch” Western 10/10

Should really be recognized as a Western classic, or at least world’s best “Eastern” – Mikhalkov follows the rules of the genre impeccably, easily weaving in 1920’s Russia setting, revolutionary romanticism and “cool” charismatic bad guys, a rare thing in Soviet cinema. Cast is superb – probably the best combination of young actors of the decade, including Mikhalkov himself as Yesaul.

One of the best Nikita Mikhalkov’s pictures. A gripping, rather confusing adventurous plot, fragmentary editing, mysterious look of heroes – all this became a fresh breeze in the soviet cinematography of the 70th. The excellent crew including a big number of greatest russian actors in the beginning of their career. Beautiful and piercing main theme by Edward Artemyev thinly transfers the mood of the movie combining the romanticism of the 70th and the dramatic line of the picture. In 1974 the movie was sworn by critics. But years went by. And now it’s considered to be the cult one.