Extended Reading
  • Destin 2022-03-22 09:02:39

    The beauty in war is the most terrible

    A scene comes to mind, from "Memories of Chernobyl: An Oral History of the Nuclear Disaster", the wife of a firefighter who died in the nuclear disaster recounts about her final moments in the hospital with her husband:

    It was already May 9th. He used to say to me, "You don't know how beautiful...

  • Julius 2022-03-24 09:03:20

    Yan Nanfei - How to live when the country is in crisis?

    Also under the background of the music of "Farewell to a Slavic Woman", there are two scenes in the film, one is seeing off those who went to the front, how tragic; In the happy crowd, Veronica was holding flowers, but she couldn't see Boris anymore; an old comrade's words "why not give flowers...

  • Noah 2022-04-21 09:03:04

    "When death came to our land"; the sacredness of Europe is here, maybe a source (need to be confirmed): extreme tilt, short-focus close-up in 4:3, the whole sense of proximity to God in simple black and white - Maybe not all of Pasolini's Fessilli peasant all-encompassing feeling, but close enough, or somewhat surpassed. The penetration of geese and stairs should be better, but it may be cliché for now, although I don't know how to improve it yet. The crowd is simply surreal. That surreal crowd is part of the divine. Maybe Pasolini is simply looking at everything sacred, but Mikhail has to rehearse the combination of movement and camera on the set (although this is already another possibility (beauty)). The essence of the whole film is in the scene of the pianist. Love is love. Destiny is also destiny. Love is love is the most tragic part of fate. Just like art is art. So that big reunion is far from a simple big reunion. (There's a lot to learn from special shots that used to be so technically limited; this is the fucking art that can be thought of as art/like Dusan Dali Buñuel)

  • Maeve 2022-04-23 07:03:54

    The Soviet New Wave, the camera scheduling is breathtaking, there are two unforgettable scenes, one is the male lead (it should be that Aleksey Batalov) to chase the panning shot of Veronika on the stairs in the film, and the other is the sound of air raids, The piano sound, Veronika and Mark's chasing sound are mixed together, coupled with the flickering light and shadow, the rhythm and atmosphere are well-placed. But how does this ending look so strange?

The Cranes Are Flying quotes

  • [first lines]

    Boris: Wait, squirrel! Here. Put it on.

  • Fyodor Ivanovich: Stop it this minute! You're a still a soldier in the Red Army! Are you trying to get discharged? Are you afraid we'll heal your hands and send you back to the front?

    A patient in the infirmary: No, Doctor, he's not like that. He got a letter.

    Fyodor Ivanovich: I know. That's just an excuse. Big deal! So your bride ran off. You should be glad! She isn't worth a penny if she would trade a handsome guy like you, a real hero, for some rat sitting out the war at home! It's she who's forfeit her happiness, not you! And that's what she deserves. She's got a petty soul. People like her can't understand how much suffering we've gone through. You stood up to death itself. You looked death in the face. You approached it with your chest stuck out. And she couldn't even pass the little test of time. Woman like her deserve only your contempt. There can be no forgiveness for them!