Vladimir MOTYL Владимир МОТЫЛЬ Vladimir MOTYL   USSR, 1969, 85 mn  Colour, fiction

White Sun of the Desert ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ Белое солнце пустыни    Le Soleil blanc du désert  Beloe sontse Pustyni

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Plot synopsis

This “Middle-Eastern”, or rather a Central-Asian action film, about the Red Army fighting the counter-revolutionary robber bands has become not only a cult movie, but also one of the favorites for several generations of viewers. With Russian cosmonauts, it is a tradition to view this film before going to outer space. The film’s success paved the way for a genre of national “Eastern”. A demobbed soldier, Fyodor Sukhov, is making his way through the desert to his home village. The band of the brutal Abdulla is raging in that area. Sukhov is charged with escorting the chief’s harem, because Abdulla intended to kill his women rather than let them go free. Sukhov’s mate, a young soldier Petrukha, dies at the hand of Abdulla. But at the decisive moment, Sukhov gets help from the former customs officer Vereshchagin and a poor peasant, Said.
Source :www.ruscico.com

 

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Commentaries and bibliography

 

This cult film from Russia’s Era of Stagnation was another smash hit in the Soviet Union and is still popular today. It is the story of a red soldier who rescues women from a harem, and has got the feel of a typical film from the end of the 1960s.
White Sun of the Desert was to be the Soviet answer to the popular Western. Yet, while clearly drawing on Western cinematic tropes, the film undoubtedly spoke to Soviet audiences regarding issues of nation and empire, since it promulgates the nationalist ideals of a Russian-dominated Central Asia. Since the film’s release, however, screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov has vehemently denied such intentions. Indeed, looking closely at how director Vladimir Motyl visually constructs the film, it becomes clear that he emphasizes the incompatibility of Soviet and Central Asian cultures, plus the failure of the Soviet project in the East. This was an interesting cinematic stand to take at a time when the idea of the ‘brotherhood of nations’ was still very much alive in Soviet rhetoric. Ultimately we are led to consider the possibility that Russia’s presence in Central Asia not only endangers Russian purity, but also destroys an engaging, exotic, traditional Eastern culture.
(http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/beloye-solntse-pustyni/)

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Selected in the following festivals :

- Festival de cinéma russe au Centre Wallonie Bruxelles de Kinshasa, Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo), 2012

- Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam (Netherlands), 2011

- Era New Horizons IFF, Wroclaw (Poland), 2011

- International Film Festival Bratislava, Brastislava (Slovakia), 2011

- Window to Europe Film Festival, Vyborg, Vyborg (Russia), 2009

- International Film Festival Tarkovski, Ivanovo (Russia), 2009

- Festival of Central and Eastern Film , Wiesbaden (Germany), 2006

- Russian film festival in Sweden 'KinoRiurik', Stockholm (Sweden), 2006

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Photos and videos

 

Video excerpts with the words of the songs on pesnifilm.ru

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Film with English subtitles on mosfilm.ru: Click here

 

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