Siberiade

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DVD cover for the movie Siberiade

Siberiade (Sibiriada/Сибириада) is a Soviet film epic of 1979 in four parts. It is directed by Andrei Konchalovsky who is well known in the west for films such as Tango and Cash. The leading roles were played by the celebrated Soviet actors Nikita Mikhalkov and Lyudmila Gurchenko.

Eduard Artemyev's theme from the movie was covered by the Russian trance act PPK and, issued under the title ResuRection in August 2002, rocketed to #3 in the UK Singles Chart.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The small village of Yelan has lain hidden in the Siberian backwoods since time immemorial.

Siberiade revolves around two families, the Solomins and the Ustyuzhanins, who live in Yelan and who have been feuding for as long as anyone can remember. The Solomins, tended to be quite wealthy, but the Ustyuzhanins poor, so that when the Russian Revolution comes along, the Solomins refuse to acknowledge it (Siberia was the White Army's centre of operations). Nikolai Ustyuzhanin is a lone warrior against them. However, it will take a new generation of the two families to resolve this conflict, and set all right.

Towards the end of the film (the 1970s), Yelan is no longer a remote village, because the area is found to be full of oil, and this brings in new people, expansion etc to it, which in itself causes problems.