Wings
1966 · Soviet Union · 85 min
- Director
- Larisa Shepitko
- Screenplay
- Valentin Ezhov, Natalya Ryazantseva
- Music
- Roman Ledenyov
- Cinematography
- Igor Slabnevich
- Production company
- Mosfilm
Cast
What it is about
Nadezhda Petrukhina, a former Soviet fighter pilot who served during the Second World War, now runs a trade school focused on construction. Her life is orderly but feels unfulfilling: she struggles to connect with her students, with the generation younger than hers, and with her partner Pavel, while her relationship with her adopted daughter Tanya remains strained. Memories of the war and of her flights often break into her present.
How it was made
It was Larisa Shepitko's first feature after graduating from the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography, shot in black and white for Mosfilm. Written by Valentin Yezhov and Natalya Ryazantseva, the story moves between everyday routine and wartime memory. A dream sequence combines wartime footage of Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters with live-action shots of Yakovlev Yak-9 aircraft. Maya Bulgakova leads the cast.
Reception and legacy
Critics praised its character study and Bulgakova's performance. Jonathan Rosenbaum called it a lovely and nuanced character study, and Dave Kehr noted Shepitko's debt to Dovzhenko in bending documentary realism toward poetic ends. Criterion's 2008 DVD release, part of its Eclipse series, brought the film to new audiences, and Paul Schrader and Ben Wheatley included it among their favourite Criterion releases.
Stills
Trivia
Criterion edition
In 2008, Criterion released the film on DVD in its Eclipse series, as part of a box set with The Ascent.
Integrated wartime footage
The dream sequence mixes genuine Second World War combat footage with shots of Yak-9 aircraft filmed for the film.
More films by Larisa Shepitko
The Ascent
FarewellOriginal Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.