Kapitan Volkonogov bezhal is the Russian champion for 78th Venice Film Festival competition. Captain Volkonogov Escaped is one of the many Russian movies selected this year and it is the new feature by directors (and wife and husband) Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov. Their first movie was Intimnye mesta (Intimate Parts) presented at Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 2013. Tchelovek Kotorij Udivil Vseh, (The Man Who Surprised Everyone) was in Venice 2018 in the Orizzonti selection and it was a «a morality play about the resistance to death of a Russian everyman ». Natalya Kudryashova won as best actress and she’s also in Captain Volkonogov Escaped. Merkulova e Chupov brings us back in time during the Stalinian Purge. Fedor Volkonogov (played by Yuriy Borisov) is in charge of the Russian National Security Agency. He feels remorse for what he did and starts looking for the people he persecuted to ask for their forgiveness. A Dostoevskijan movie that Venice Film Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbero defines «powerful and ambitious» and that enriches the already large genre of East European cinema focuses on the history of Soviet regimes. Last year Andrej Končalovskij brought to Lido a tragic story from the Kruscev era told in Dear Comrades that won Jury Special Award. In this year’s Venice competition there’s also the Polish film Leave No Traces that tells the story of the murder of young Grzegorz Przemyk killed by the soldiers of Jaruzelski. This is also a way to talk about today’s regimes.
Scheda tecnica:
Captain Volkonogov Escaped (Kapitan Volkonogov bezhal)
Russia/Estonia/France, 2021. Directed by Natasha Merkulova, Aleksey Chupov. With Yuriy Borisov, Natalya Kudryashova. Lenght 2 h e 6’
