Customer Reviews

Moscow Parade [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let's start with the beginning-the title. I think that's one of the reasons the movie doesn't sell well abroad. The English and French titles of the movie don't reflect what's the movie about at all. It's like changing "The unbearable lightness of being" into "The Soviet invasion to Prague". The original title "Prorva" is very hard to translate. It has two completely controversial meanings: "a lot of" and "something that can devour anything however large". And that's what the movie is about. And "something" or "a lot of" is not the Stalinist régime as one may think having read the plot. Even after immersion into the movie you won't be able to determine what it is by words. You can talk a lot about "Prorva" and say nothing so I will underline only major things. First - the movie has a great style and visually is just beautiful (Nika-Russian Oscar- for camera in 1992). Second - soundtrack consisting mostly of original Russian music from the 30th - from marches to pop. Third - ideal actors for the leading roles. Uta Lampere does look like a beautiful ghost from the former era. Evgueny Sidikhin would have become a sex symbol if we had that in Russian culture. To conclude with: if you want to see horrors of Stalinist Russia - don't bother, if you like movies that devour your soul - that's your movie!

I've seen this film several times and it's still a bit of a mystery to me, but I love the visual journey it takes me on, and it becomes more magical with each viewing.
Set in the summer of 1939, the old footage of the parade is awesome...in it's vastness, and in seeing hundreds of beautiful, athletic young men and women, marching and smiling...little did they know what awaited them in the oncoming war.

It's a meandering story that includes a German woman (the gorgeous Ute Lemper) who is married to the chief of police that murdered her family, and shows the decadence and luxury that existed in Stalin's elite secret police, and the surrounding paranoia ("who can judge a traitor to his country any better than a friend ?").

There's a lot of dialogue, as well as song and dance, which Lemper excels at. The Moscow settings are marvelous and the period costuming sensational.
It reminds me of one of my very favorite films, Tenghiz Abuladze's "Repentance", in its visual impact, rich palette and fabulous cinematography, and great looking cast. Both are powerful works of art, even if some of the meaning remains elusive...somewhat like enjoying a delicious meal without having to know all the ingredients.

I even don't know where to start ...
1. My friend Cat sended it to me and said : You can keep it ?! Not a good sign ! She speaks exellent Russian and loves good Russian movies .
2. I looked at the box and here it is : Moscow Parade is the first post-Soviet Union view of the Stalin Era in all its complexities - terror , passions , music and eroticism...
I was ready to throw up but my girlfriend was already asleep and I didn't want to wake her up .
3. So I watched it ...
4. Reminds me " Burned by the Sun " - same kind of story , same era , same OVERgrotesque which suposed to be some kind of innovention ?! As result - TOO cheep . Throw in bad script , aditing , dialogs and medioca acting by the good actors ... I think it calls ... VERY MEDIOCA FILM with few good points , but ...
5. But you need a talant to put everything together in a good film . And this is what this film missing - TALANT !
6. Do you want to se a very good film about this time in USSR history ? Watch Russian film " Cold Summer of 1953 " or American film " Inner Circle ".