by Holley Gibson
Stanislav Rostotsky’s latest soviet war drama is a multi-award winning adaptation, which encourages the audience to develop a false sense of security, by adopting a little comedy and a nostalgic overtone. Nominated for an Oscar in 1972, The Dawns Here are Quiet is a thought provoking and relatively powerful film, but hosts a number of flaws which unfortunately detract from what could have been considered a war time classic.
Located in the small village of Karelia during the Second World War, Corporal Vaskov (Andrei Martynov) is stationed with a group of young female anti-aircraft gunners in a railway station, far away from the front line. The corporal is not accustomed to the women’s lively personalities and clashes with them regarding everyday matters. When one of the women comes across two German soldiers in a nearby forest, Vaskov leads a handful of his group in a search for them, and soon learns to respect his female officers and their individual personalities. Unfortunately, their search leads them to a large German platoon and the six under-equipped Russians have to fight to survive and prevent the enemy from entering into their friendly territory.
Divided almost evenly into two halves, The Dawns Here are Quiet feels as though we are watching two separate films with opposing narratives. The first hour and twenty minutes establishes the tone and introduces the audience to the female officers and their varied backstories, however it is much too lengthy and does not make a strong feminist statement despite its obvious themes and subject matter. The second half introduces an entirely opposite and darker tone, which follows the search mission, and rarely cuts back to follow the soldier’s narrative, which has been left behind. Despite the considered use of cinematography and a cleverly manipulated alternative perspective, Rostotsky’s latest release falls a little short of a good recommendation.
[imdb id=tt0068161]