On Thursday, February 16, the military drama The Righteous, based on real events, will be released in wide release.
Inspired by Yuri Malyugin's documentary “Kiselyov's List.
Rescued from Hell, producers Timur Weinstein, Leonid Vereshchagin and Anton Zlatopolsky offered to screen the story of the immortal feat of the Soviet partisan Nikolai Kiselyov to Sergei Ursulyak.
The tape was also based on the book by Inna Gerasimova “The March of Life.
How Dolginov's Jews were Saved.
According to the plot, the Jewish community living in the territory occupied by the Nazis is looking for salvation.
The Tal family has enough money to save the lives of only two children.
Young Moshe and his sister, who were lucky enough to survive, go to the Belarusian forests, where they meet other fugitives.
There, a group of Jews find partisans led by Nikolai Kiselyov.
The Jews ask to take them with them, but the political instructor, realizing the danger of the situation, at first refuses.
Later, Kiselev takes a few more partisans with him, and the group advances on a deadly path full of hope and love.
The main role was played by Alexander Yatsenko.
Together with him, Mark Eidelstein, Evgeny Tkachuk, Lyubov Konstantinova, Sergey Makovetsky, Fedor Dobronravov, Yulia Vitruk, Konstantin Khabensky, Chulpan Khamatova and others starred in the tape.
According to the director, he did not seek to look for an actor who looked like a prototype.
The most important thing was to find an artist who could truly convey the character's character.
© Shot from the film "The Righteous" (2022)
Kiselev is endowed with courage, wisdom, as well as human dignity and conscience.
He is a true cosmopolitan and is not used to dividing people into nationalities, so Jews for him are ordinary citizens of the USSR.
However, as he gets acquainted with the culture of the Jews, previously unknown to the hero, their foundations and customs, he begins to understand these people.
The line between the order and the personal desire to help is gradually blurred.
“Their task is to survive and reach.
And there is no choice ... But there are chances!
the hero says.
It becomes that chance and hope for survival for about 300 people.
Not all of them are destined to survive, but Kiselev will help save more than 200.
Pursued by the Nazis on the heels, people under the leadership of Kiselyov will pass through the Belarusian forests, sometimes they will have to swim across the rivers.
Exhausted, emaciated women, old people and children, thanks to Kiselyov and his team, will overcome more than 1000 km.
The tape touches on an important topic for world history.
The director tells about the war through private storylines and, using the images created as an example, reminds us that in any situation you need to remain human.
At the same time, the director does not make a clichéd hero out of Yatsenko's character, who from the first minutes is ready to voluntarily rush to help strangers.
Being a pragmatist to the marrow of his bones, Kiselev understands that the task of bringing two hundred people behind the front line is more than risky.
However, from the first frames on the screen, a person appears sympathetic and not indifferent to the grief of others in the face of a common misfortune.
It was the humanism and dedication of both the real Kiselyov and the screen one that helped save innocent lives.
Understanding the colossal contribution of the partisan to their own future, more than 2 thousand descendants of the saved Jews would later annually gather in Tel Aviv to honor the memory of their savior.
Since the action of the tape takes place in two time periods, the viewer sees how Kiselyov in 2005 in Israel was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
© Shot from the film "The Righteous" (2022)
The stories of all the characters turned out to be very poignant.
It’s easy for heroes to empathize, but it’s scary to imagine yourself in their place: the courage and stamina of parents choosing which of their children to save, like heroines, whose moral principles at a critical moment turn out to be stronger than the desire to live, cause admiration, but they don’t want to envy them at all.
The director smoothly brings to the fore this or that character, while revealing not only personal stories, but also the character of the protagonist through their interactions.
I especially remember the scene that took place in reality: an exhausted father who can not calm his daughter.
The crying of the girl puts the whole group in danger, and the only way out that a parent can find in the name of saving the rest is to drown the child.
However, Kiselev comes to the rescue: he reassures the girl and saves her father from a fatal mistake that he could not forgive himself.
With all the horror that can be experienced from the scene seen, it is difficult to condemn a parent for such a decision.
At the same time, the dedication and willingness to part forever with your own child for the sake of saving other people is amazing.
The cruel scenes with the participation of the Nazis are shown quite accurately, but truthfully - the director does not detract from their bloodthirstiness.
At the same time, against the backdrop of the inhumanity and ferocity of the Nazis, Ursulyak demonstrates not only the flexibility of the human soul, but also the significance of community.
Even being in the epicenter of terrible events, the heroes remain human.
© Shot from the film "The Righteous" (2022)
In such a difficult picture, the director gives both the heroes of the picture and the viewer hope for a brighter future.
The triumph of love over religious dogmas and national prejudices, which ends with a wedding with Jewish rituals and chants, allows you to escape from the bloody war.
Maria Zolotukhina, for whom the role became her debut, and Yevgeny Tkachuk are responsible for the romantic component in the film.
Zolotukhina, next to the experienced Tkachuk, behaved very worthily - Tova Lipnitsky in her performance turned out to be very convincing.
It can again be said with confidence that Ursulyak has opened a new star to Russian cinema.
It was from the director's tape that the acting career of Natalya Vdovina ("Summer People") began, and popularity came to Polina Agureeva after his projects "Long Farewell", "Liquidation" and "Isaev".
It remains to be hoped that Zolotukhina will show herself just as brightly in other films.
"Righteous", as the director himself said, is not a picture about a righteous man, but about a person "who does what he must."
The tape definitely deserves attention, since the topic and values touched upon in it will never lose their relevance.