12-29-2020, 09:39 AM
Two women who served in the Russian military as anti-aircraft gunners during the brutal siege of Leningrad struggle to return to civilian life in postwar Leningrad working in a military hospital.
Russia was the only nation during WWII to use women in combat roles. They used them as anti-aircraft gunners, and it freaked out German pilots when they learned of it. They'd rather be in the trenches somewhere dying like rats than risk the indignity of being shot down by a woman.
I read about this in Women Warriors: An Unexpected History by Pamela D. Toler, which I thought I'd reviewed on Doom but apparently not. It's a fascinating book and highly recommended.
As for this movie, well, not so much. The war is over. You never see or even hear a plane. Most of the scenes are shot in a hospital, and there's lots of shortages, PTSD, and misery. I never got a feel for the two women having been anti-aircraft gunners, and in fact a late conversation suggests that one of them was more a military whore just doing what she had to do to survive. So, yeah, this is a rather depressing movie to watch, so if you're currently undergoing a manic phase, this could flatten you out some.
Then there's the Beanpole thing. That is the nickname of one of the two women, and it's because she's tall. How tall? Well, the actress playing her is six feet. But she's a whole lot taller than that going by how she's filmed. That's the gimmick throughout this film, showing how she towers head and shoulders over everyone else -- male or female -- in every scene. She's usually shown from the waist up, whether just standing or walking through a crowd, and it's very distracting, because the proportions are off. Either she's walking along a raised platform (sort of the anti-Alan Ladd trick) or she's wearing elevator shoes that go all the way to 11. She "reads" 7 and a half feet to me, and looks about as natural as some of those early scenes in Lord of the Rings where proportions are inconsistent and draw the eye.
There's other scenes where she sits down or lies down or otherwise is shown in full, in the company of others, and there's always a trick of perspective or covering up some portion of her body to hide the fact that she's not as tall as the role calls for.
One other thing. The director likes lingering on static scenes -- especially faces -- for a very long time. I mean 5 times too long. I gave up on the movie as a result an hour in, but next day I grudgingly finished it. But it's a very slow 2 hours and 19 minutes.
Not really recommended, though I'm now inspired to plant pole beans in the spring.
Oh, this was one of Obama's favorite movies seen in 2020. So maybe my rating is based more on dashed expectations of a war movie.
Russia was the only nation during WWII to use women in combat roles. They used them as anti-aircraft gunners, and it freaked out German pilots when they learned of it. They'd rather be in the trenches somewhere dying like rats than risk the indignity of being shot down by a woman.
I read about this in Women Warriors: An Unexpected History by Pamela D. Toler, which I thought I'd reviewed on Doom but apparently not. It's a fascinating book and highly recommended.
As for this movie, well, not so much. The war is over. You never see or even hear a plane. Most of the scenes are shot in a hospital, and there's lots of shortages, PTSD, and misery. I never got a feel for the two women having been anti-aircraft gunners, and in fact a late conversation suggests that one of them was more a military whore just doing what she had to do to survive. So, yeah, this is a rather depressing movie to watch, so if you're currently undergoing a manic phase, this could flatten you out some.
Then there's the Beanpole thing. That is the nickname of one of the two women, and it's because she's tall. How tall? Well, the actress playing her is six feet. But she's a whole lot taller than that going by how she's filmed. That's the gimmick throughout this film, showing how she towers head and shoulders over everyone else -- male or female -- in every scene. She's usually shown from the waist up, whether just standing or walking through a crowd, and it's very distracting, because the proportions are off. Either she's walking along a raised platform (sort of the anti-Alan Ladd trick) or she's wearing elevator shoes that go all the way to 11. She "reads" 7 and a half feet to me, and looks about as natural as some of those early scenes in Lord of the Rings where proportions are inconsistent and draw the eye.
There's other scenes where she sits down or lies down or otherwise is shown in full, in the company of others, and there's always a trick of perspective or covering up some portion of her body to hide the fact that she's not as tall as the role calls for.
One other thing. The director likes lingering on static scenes -- especially faces -- for a very long time. I mean 5 times too long. I gave up on the movie as a result an hour in, but next day I grudgingly finished it. But it's a very slow 2 hours and 19 minutes.
Not really recommended, though I'm now inspired to plant pole beans in the spring.
Oh, this was one of Obama's favorite movies seen in 2020. So maybe my rating is based more on dashed expectations of a war movie.
I'm nobody's pony.