Taras Shevchenko (film)
| Taras Shevchenko | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Directed by |
Aleksandr Alov Vladimir Naumov Igor Savchenko |
| Starring |
Sergey Bondarchuk Ivan Pereverzev |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 118 minutes |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Ukrainian |
Taras Shevchenko is a 1951 Soviet biopic about the Ukrainian artist Taras Shevchenko produced by Isaak Shmarukh, Vasili Lapoknish, with associate producers Aleksandr Alov, Vladimir Naumov, Grigori Malik-Avakian and Latif Faziyev, and scripted and directed by Igor Savchenko. The New York Times praised the acting of Sergey Bondarchuk.[1]
Synopsis
Summer 1841. Lermontov is killed. The news of this arrives to a modest attic of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where lives and works the young artist and poet Taras Shevchenko. Growing up in an Ukrainian peasant family, knowing all hardships of serf life, Shevchenko in the years of study clearly identifies the meaning of true art, which is to serve the interests of the people. After graduating from the Academy, Shevchenko goes to Ukraine. The poems of Taras are imbued with love for the common people. Landowner-nationalists, liberal leaders of the Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood, try to "tame" the famous poet, but Shevchenko forever has made his choice; he is on the side of the people, their defender and crooner. Fiery freedom-loving creativity of Taras Shevchenko is known throughout Russia. Nicholas I exiles the poet to the distant Caspian fort where he is to serve as an ordinary soldier and is banned from writing or drawing. In the poet's difficult days he has the support of Ukrainian soldier Skobelev, Polish revolutionary Sierakowski, captain Kosarev and the commandant of the fortress, Uskov. For the sake of his release Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov are hard at work. And so, the sick and aged Shevchenko is finally free. Together with Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov, he dreams of a bright future of the motherland, when the Russian and Ukrainian peoples throw off the chains of slavery.
Awards
Sergei Bondarchuk won the USSR State Prize and the Best Actor Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for his acting.[2]
Cast
- Sergey Bondarchuk as Taras Shevchenko
- Ivan Pereverzev as Zygmunt Sierakowski
- Pavel Shpringfeld as Panteleimon Kulish
- Mikhail Nazvanov as Nicholas I of Russia
- Mark Bernes as Captain Kosarev
- Aleksandr Khvylya as Lord Barabash
- Garen Zhukovskaya as Lady Barabash
- Vladimir Chestnokov as Nikolay Chernyshevsky
- Hnat Yura as Mikhail Shchepkin
- Vyacheslav Tikhonov as representative of the St Petersburg youth