Dauria
1972 · Soviet Union · 182 min
- Director
- Viktor Tregubovich
- Screenplay
- Viktor Tregubovich
- Music
- Georgy Portnov
- Cinematography
- Yevgeny Mezentsev
- Production company
- Lenfilm
Cast
What it is about
Dauria follows a Cossack village in the Siberian province of Dauria during the First World War and the communist revolution. Under the rule of a strong leader, the community lives by rigid traditions that weigh heavily on Roman Ulybin, a young man who feels pushed aside by his father. His family conflict becomes entangled with the civil war when he draws closer to the Red revolutionaries led by his uncle.
How it was made
The film adapts the novel of the same name by Konstantin Sedykh. Viktor Tregubovich directed it and wrote the screenplay with Sedykh and Yuri Klepikov. Lenfilm produced it, and shooting ran from 1969 to 1971 in Siberia, the Trans-Baikal region, Narva in Estonia and the Lenfilm studios in Leningrad. Yevgeny Mezentsev handled the cinematography and Gennadi Portnov composed the music. Over five hundred extras took part in the crowd scenes, and the lead actors spent months taking riding lessons.
Reception and legacy
Released in the Soviet Union in 1971, it drew around 47 million viewers. Some Soviet critics faulted its historical inaccuracies, while its epic scale and battle sequences earned wide praise. A shorter version reached Finland and other European countries in 1975, and a DVD edition followed in 2002. Some commentators credit it with influencing the political imagination of Siberian Russia, although that claim is debated.
Stills
Trivia
A risky stunt
For a moment involving the character Severian Ulybin, a live horse carrying a mannequin dressed as a Cossack leapt from a cliff about seventy metres high into the cold river.
Riding preparation
The leading actors took horseback riding classes for several months before and during filming, which mattered for the scenes on horseback.
Original Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.