The entire biography of Grigory Chukhrai, according to his friend director Vladimir Naumov, can be defined in two words - “war and cinema”. The Great Patriotic War. It was she who raised Grigori Chukhrai, tempered his character, taught him not to give up and to win. He went to the front at nineteen, became a paratrooper, was behind enemy lines dozens of times, defended Stalingrad, crossed half of Europe.
The director's first film based on Boris Lavrenev's novel "The Forty-First" about the tragic love of a Red Army woman Maryutka and a white officer was groundbreaking and daring. At that time, it seemed unthinkable and impossible to bring a White Guard to the screen as a positive hero. But it turned out that "The Forty-first" was watched by Nikita Khrushchev, thanks to whom the film was sent not "to the shelf", but to Cannes.
In the mid-sixties, Grigori Chukhrai, together with the famous journalist Vladimir Pozner, planned to create a film studio, the work of which would be based on the principles of profitability. The experimental creative association was blessed by Alexei Kosygin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. As an artistic director, Chukhrai put into production only obvious successful films: "The White Sun of the Desert", "Slave of Love", "Ivan Vassilyevtich Changes Profession", "The 12 Chairs", "Sannikov Land". But ten years later, the studio is closed: it is then too free and independent.
In the life of Grigori Chukhrai, as he later admitted, there were two unusually difficult periods - the Great Patriotic War and the experimental film studio. However, no matter what difficulties Chukhrai encountered, he always remained true to himself. Not once were they able to force the director to renounce his convictions, to shoot "under dictation" or to pretend. Perhaps it is for this reason that Chukhrai has won dozens of the most prestigious foreign prizes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiQmqzb7i20
