See this film retrospective: History Through The Wrong End Of The Telescope: The Films Of Aleksei Guerman @ the HFA
Trial on the Road (1971)
Now that the
Soviet Union is history, there are those who miss it. Filmmakers in particular
benefited from state sponsorship, though censorship made things a bit tricky.
The Harvard Film Archive features one of the great directors of that period in
the retrospective History Through The
Wrong End Of The Telescope: The Films Of Aleksei Guerman. Guerman struggled
with the system, finishing only five features in 40 years. One of the best, Trial on the Road (1971), is a
remorselessly realistic and un-heroic account of a Red Army soldier during
World War II who had trouble keeping his loyalties straight. Guerman finished
the film with no problems; too bad nobody was allowed to see it for 15 years. It screens in the Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St, Cambridge | Friday. June 22 @ 7 pm | $9; $7
students; seniors | 617.495.4700 or hcl.harvard.edu/hfa.