“Wings” is a beautiful film by Russian filmmaker Larisa Shepitko. Showcasing her talent and her ability to defy Russian cinema with “Wings”, a film about a woman who yearns for her past and dealing with the generational gap and being a forgotten war hero and relic of the past. A worthy addition to this Eclipse Series set and overall, for its price for two of Shepitko’s breakthrough films, this Eclipse series set is definitely recommended!
Image courtesy of © 1966 Mosfilm Studios © 2008 All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Wings (as part of the Larisa Shepitko – Eclipse Series #11)
DURATION: 85 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, 1:33:1 Aspect Ratio, Monaural, Russian with English subtitles
COMPANY: Janus Films/The Criterion Collection
RELEASED: August 12, 2008
Directed by Larisa Shepitko
Written by Valentin Ezhov, Natalya Ryazantseva
Music by Roman Ledenyov
Cinematography by Igor Slabnevich
Edited by L. Lysenkova
Production Design by Ivan Plastinkin
Costume Design by A. Dokuchayeva
Starring:
Maya Bulgakova as Nadezhda Petrukhina
Sergey Nikonenko as Sergei Bystryakov
Zhanna Bolotova as Tanya
Pantelejmon Krymov as Pavel Gavriloch
Leonid Dyachkov as Mitya Grachov
Vladimir Gorelov as Igor
Yuri Medvedev as Boris Grigoryevich
Nikolai Grabbe as Kostya Shuvalov
Zhanna Aleksandrova as Zinka
The career of Larisa Shepitko, an icon of sixties and seventies Soviet cinema, was tragically cut short when she was killed in a car crash at age forty, just as she was emerging on the international scene. The body of work she left behind, though small, is masterful, and her genius for visually evoking characters’ interior worlds is never more striking than in her two greatest works: Wings, an intimate yet exhilarating portrait of a female fighter pilot turned provincial headmistress, and The Ascent, a gripping, tragic wartime parable of betrayal and martyrdom. A true artist who had deftly used the Soviet film industry to make statements both personal and universal, Shepitko remains one of the greatest unsung filmmakers of all time.
Larisa Shepitko’s stunning first feature after graduating from the All-Russian State Institute for Cinematography was this fascinating character study about a once heroic female Russian fighter pilot now living a quiet, disappointingly ordinary life as a school principal.
Larisa Shepitko, the Russian filmmaker who just became noticed of her filmmaking style and becoming part of the “New Generation” of Russian filmmakers that started to achieve worldwide recognition died at the young age of 40 (Shepitko and five members of her crew were killed while driving to the location to shoot their next film).
Married to another well known filmmaker, Elem Klimov, Larisa studied under Alexander Dovzhenko (one of the well-known, important Soviet Filmmakers) at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow and through her brief directing career which began in 1956, she is known best for her last film, “Voskhozdeniye” (The Ascent) in 1977.
In celebration of Larisa Shepitko’s film career, The Criterion Collection has released an Eclipse Series set featuring two of her films: “Krylya” aka “Wings” (1966) and “Voskhozdeniye” aka “The Ascent” (1977).
“Wings” is my first foray into the Shepitko’s films and was a controversial film in Russia as the film showed conflict between a parent and a child and also its depiction of a war hero.
The film revolves around former pilot Nadezhda Petrukhina (played by Maya Bulgakova), a decorated World War II hero who was shot in battle and now a principal at a school. Seen by many people as a war hero, to the children at the college, she appears to be a tough principal. While preparing for a major commencement, an argument between students breaks out and one of the instigators, a boy is kicked out of the school.
When she arrives home, she talks with her longtime friend about her step-daughter Tanya (played by Zhanna Bolotova) and she finds out that she is marrying an older man. Tanya has never consulted her or even wanted to talk about her marriage to her mother and this has made Nadezhda quite sad.
We then start to see how life is with Nadezhda. On the outside, because she is a war veteran, many people think that a hero’s life is quite good. She has a good job, she’s always busy and a female in a leadership position. But what is reality is quite farther from the truth as Nadezhda is disenchanted with her current life. She knows that the kids at school are scared of her, some resent her. Her own daughter resents her. She’s not married, there is nothing in her life but working hard.
And constantly, she is often thinking about her past when life was so thrilling as a pilot and when she is in the cockpit of her plane, she had escaped reality and had a lot of fun when she was younger but now, to many people, she’s just a relic of yesterday and a person of power that has trouble connecting with the younger people of today. The friends, the love ones that she served in the military are gone… With this build-up of emotions running high inside of her, what will Nadezhda want to do with her life?
VIDEO:
“Wings” is presented in (1:33:1) in black and white. For a 44-year-old print and the fact that this is an Eclipse series release versus a Criterion Collection release, the print for “Wings” is actually pretty good. The film has its moments of looking a bit washed out, some lines showing up and down the film and mild flickering. There is dust and scratches that can be seen if you are looking for it but for the most part, considering no remastering was done to the film, the picture quality for “Wings” is good.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Wings” is presented in monaural Russian with optional English subtitles. The film is Dolby Digital 1.0 and comes through the center channels quite clearly but I chose to watch the film via my receiver set to stereo on all channels.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Eclipse Series do not come with special features but included on each DVD case insert is a background on the film and information about Larisa Shepitko.
Although the controversial impact that “Wings” had toward Russian audiences and media would not affect today’s modern viewers, the fact that this 1966 film dealt with issues that Russians were not used to seeing on film definitely makes Larisa Shepitko’s film quite extraordinary.
There is so much emotional layering built into this film and its main character Nadezhda Petrukhina that you can admire Maya Bulgakova’s acting. When she’s stern, she can play stern. When she’s flirtatious, she can play flirtatious and when she’s emotional, she can play emotional. This is definitely a marvelous performance by Maya and in some way, the storyline can definitely be relevant in today’s world.
As Maya’s biggest connection to her happiest memories are her time as a pilot and the people she cared about at that time, we see this today in social media sites where people can find old friends who are connected to their high school years and the feeling that they are unable to leave that part of their life, that was their happiest time. The same with the character of Maya but it is a bit more severe as she has lived her life as a woman known for her sacrifice for her country, known in her career by being a strong individual but yet that emotional connect of love is not in the present but in the past.
She is unable to understand her daughter, she is unable to understand the children at her school. She is a hero of Stalin’s Russia but in today’s Russia, she is unhappy, she is a forgotten relic of yesterday’s Russia and a film that paints the generational differences. So, she yearns to be in the cockpit. She dreams when she was in the cockpit of her airplane and flying freely as that is her passion.
And the fact that Shepitko was able to make this film not seen in Russian cinema and being part of this new generation of Russian filmmakers that would be different from her predecessors and decades later, would be seen and respected for her work.
“Wings” may not have the depth as her later film “The Ascent” but she does manage to bring out Maya’s performance. The claustrophobic interiors and tight compositions are well filmed especially the aerial sequences. Granted, some may feel these shots are a bit limited but for her earlier work and with the single camera and working on a lower budget, she was able to craft a beautiful, dramatic film.
There is no doubt that Shepitko died at a young age, a lot of potential for more films that could have been made and directed by this wonderful Russian filmmaker. But yet, she did make an impact and the fact that the Criterion Collection has recognized her films and gave her an Eclipse Series release is fantastic.
Overall, “Wings” is a very good film and a great addition to an even more fantastic film “The Ascent”, both included in “Larisa Shepitko – Eclipse Series #11”. For its price and for these two wonderful films, this set is definitely recommended!