In the city of Novocherkassk in 1962, striking laborers are shot to death by the military and a loyal party worker (Julia Vysotskaya) desperately tries to find her missing daughter during the chaotic aftermath. A stark account of actual events where the authorities did everything to cover up mistakes and blame the striking workers rather than the men who ordered the massacre. Focus lies on a woman who has devoted her life to the Communist Party, but whose conviction is shaken when she realizes that she may have sacrificed her child. Meticulously researched by the director; dramatic at times, with a good, emotional lead performance. Â
2020-Russia. 120 min. B/W. Produced by Alisher Usmanov. Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky. Screenplay: Andrei Konchalovsky, Elena Kiseleva. Cast: Julia Vysotskaya (Lyudmila âLyudaâ Syomina), Vladislav Komarov (Loginov), Yuliya Burova (Svetka), Andrey Gusev, Sergei Erlish, Alexander Maskelyne.
Trivia: Original title: Dorogie tovarishchi!.
Venice: Special Jury Prize.
Last word: “[Yuri Bagrayev] was the prosecutor who oversaw the 1992 investigation of the Novocherkasskâs events, and he gave me loads of inside information. As you can imagine, a lot of that was never published, so his help was invaluable. I wanted him to be completely satisfied with what we were doing, because there had been several documentaries and even some series on what had happened down there⊠and he was very upset with how those had turned out. I needed to be as meticulous and rigorous as I could. ” (Konchalovsky, Mubi)