# Is there any good films about Russia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127 "2002-10-27T17:30:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Montezuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3be4f8/32.png) [@Montezuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montezuma)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127/1 "2002-10-27T17:30:40Z")
Apart from ‘enemy at the gates’ is there any good films about my favourite country, Russia? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127/2 "2002-10-27T19:01:08Z")
Hmmm, the collected films of Sergei Eisenstein, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Sergei Paradjanov are a good place to start. Highlights include _Strike, Potemkin, Alexander Nevsky, Andrei Rublev, Stalker_ and _Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors_. Other classics: _Earth_ (Dovzhenko) _The Man with a Movie Camera_ (Vertov) _The Ballad of a Soldier_ (Chukhrai) _Come and See_ (Klimov) The last film in particular is as powerful as WWII movie as you’ll ever see–leagues better than _Enemy_. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127/3 "2002-10-27T19:45:36Z")
“Enemy at the Gates” is hardly about Russia. If you’re looking for movies \*set[/] in Russia, or with Russian themes/characters, how about: \*Gorky Park War and Peace Reds The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming \* (yes, I know it’s set on an submarine and in the American northeast, but it’s one one the few fine comedies you will find about Russians) I also reccommend the TV series, _The World at War_. Ditto the films of Eisenstein. ---
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127/4 "2002-10-27T20:43:02Z")
Dr. Zivago (sp) ---
**Author:** ![LabRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/898d66/32.png) [@LabRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LabRat)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127/5 "2002-10-27T20:57:22Z")
Gah! **Are** there any good films about Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Montezuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3be4f8/32.png) [@Montezuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montezuma)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127/6 "2002-10-27T21:50:35Z")
All films that can be bought and how about the fall of berlin? Can I get that film from amazon( I want it because it is soviet propaganda) ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Maximino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mighty\_Maximino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Maximino)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127/7 "2002-10-27T23:54:49Z")
Check out _Burnt by the Sun_. It won the Oscar for best foreign language picture in either '94 or '95. It deals with the period right before WWII, during Stalin’s excesses, and it’s very sad. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127/8 "2002-10-27T23:55:30Z")
Two silent documentaries from the early 1930’s: _[Salt for Svaneti](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0019403) [Three Songs About Lenin](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0025911)_ ---
**Author:** ![HalberMensch242](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@HalberMensch242](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HalberMensch242)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127/9 "2002-10-28T00:06:41Z")
Let’s not forget about **Solaris** ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127/10 "2002-10-28T00:14:35Z")
**Dr. Zhivago** ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127/11 "2002-10-28T04:33:45Z")
It’s _Doctor Zhivago_ Also, _Onegin_, _Catherine the Great_, and _Rasputin: the Dark Servant_. Whatever you do, avoid _Nicholas and Alexandra_ like the plague. A travesty! ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127/12 "2002-10-28T13:31:43Z")
SInce no one has mentioned it: Fiddler on the Roof. Its not a bad movie, based on a popular play. It deals, of course, with the Jewish subset of the Russian population, and takes place in the time period set a bit before 1917. ---
**Author:** ![Fibonacci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Fibonacci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibonacci)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-good-films-about-russia/134127/13 "2002-10-28T14:13:47Z")
I have to agree with _Dr. Zhivago_. I’d also suggest one of the most beautiful films ever made, Kurosawa’s _Dersu Uzula_.