Watch The Cranes Are Flying For Free

Absolutely the worst movie.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Boris volunteers for the war effort, leaving behind his lover Veronica, and while away on the battlefield she is married to his cousin whom she doesn't love. Despite her marriage, Veronica determinedly holds onto the belief that Boris is still alive and will come back to her, and the filmmakers paint her every situation influenced by his absence, as though she can not live a waking moment without thought of him. The whole plot - the whereabouts and safety of Boris - hinges on a curious detail that he never writes letters to her or his family, and thus remains clouded in mystery. We are never given a reason for this, with only a vague suggestion of mail difficulties, which the cynic in me can't but feel is used as a cheap and convenient plot device. I'm sure these things happened throughout the war, and I don't doubt their emotional toil, but the storytelling in this film appears flimsily staged, which is its greatest flaw. With mostly poor acting (though Veronica is quite good, doing her best to carry the film on her over burdened shoulders), pointed dialogue, a few coincidences, and a sappy script, it never manages to suspend our disbelief, and always feels like a made for the screen melodrama. There are some very nice shots throughout, but equally, there are shots so attention seeking in their grandiosity they only manage to detract from the vision, and add to the unreality. Still, you have to give credit to the director for trying something, as the material didn't give much to work with.

Veronica plans a rendezvous with her lover, Boris, at the bank of the river, only for him to be drafted into World War II shortly thereafter.I know very little about Soviet film. Really my only experience after the 1930s that quickly comes to mind is "Stalker". I am sure there are others, including other Tarkovsky films, but I am drawing a blank. This one is a nice exception to the forgettable films.Any story of Russia in World War II is good. Americans like to believe they single-handedly defeated Japan and Germany, conveniently forgetting that Russia was the primary opponent of Germany at the time. More films covering that cannot hurt. But then add a romantic angle? Excellent! There is something rather French about this film, which seems appropriate... the cultured class of Russia always seemed to love the French.

This film really grew on me. It tells the story of a young man who goes off to war, filled with desire to become a hero and defend mother Russia. He leaves behind a young woman who adores him but is never able to tell him. What happens here is what happens so often. She gives up hope of ever seeing him and ends up married to a man who has had designs on her and whom she actually hates.. What's worse, he rapes her in a building that is being bombed by German aircraft. The "glory" of war is shown for what it is: the human tendency to kill its children while the decision makers sit an pontificate. This is so poignant, so human, and it gives us no winners. By the way, the camera is the star of this movie. The battle scenes take us plodding through the mud, facing death at every turn. It carries us through the masses as they see their heroes off to battle. It shows us graphically the obstructions thrown up by war as they diminish the human condition.

The Cranes Are Flying is a film just as mesmerizing as the title suggests. It's stark and poetic, emotional but existential, it's about human nature, human life, human circumstance. The story is a simple and often told one, but then again, the stories of life tend to be simple and often told. The heart of the film lies in the very beginning where the two young lovers Veronika (Tatyana Samojlova) and Boris (Aleksey Batalov) stand in each other's arms and watch the cranes flying in the sky. They love each other. They don't know it yet, but they are about to be separated by war. This is the first and last moment of peace, harmony and love in their lives. The rest of their years are going to be filled with heartache, guilt, hardships, hunger, grief, death. The film ends on a hopeful and even joyous note. You have to see it to believe it.This is the first point. Very simple. It's a wonderful film that you should see. Then there are the historical notes, and the technical qualities to marvel about. Based on a play by Viktor Rozov, who wrote the screenplay, the film was directed by Mikhail Kalatozov who was one of the first Soviet filmmakers to emerge and blossom after Stalin's death (he was his former head of production). He would make tremors with his 1964 pro-Castro documentary I Am Cuba, but The Cranes Are Flying won him the Palme D'Or in 1957. It's no wonder either, not only does the film prove amazing craftsmanship but it would also remind anyone of a more general European art film from the same time (the French New Wave easily comes into mind). At the same time, it seems to have managed to pass all of the demands from the Soviet Union. It doesn't come off as a patriotic spectacle of propaganda but, as I said, it does end hopefully, with the love for the people shining from within the people itself.Tatyana Samojlova is the heroine of the film, and Kalatozov is occupied following her with the greatest of care. Much of the film is portrayed in silence, but it's not the kind of artistic silent quality you might expect. It's a quiet film, the absence of sound is naturalistic, as are the cranes in the sky and the feelings of Veronika as her childish romance dies out while she grows older in the war times. She loves Boris, lost in field. She marries a man she doesn't love. The film suggests feelings of guilt and shame. We're not sure, Samojlova is too human. There are breathtaking moments of film making in this film that, made in 1956, seems to predate most original methods of film making - and, I'd say, to this day it's not often you see sequences like the one where she is desperate, running along a train seemingly at the same speed, whilst the film itself seems to react at the sudden impact of speed and emotion. It's like the entire film looses control over itself, she almost outruns it herself, and you can't say what will happen the very next second or, once that second has passed, the second after that.This is a film about human beings, the value of human life, of love and family and hope. But it's not entirely an anti-war film, as one might suppose. This is a film where the characters face their sadness and their emotional tragedies right up front and never tries to deny them or shun from them, or in any way prolong their suffering. There is a higher cause and life must be lived by the citizens of an entire country in hope, because if we loose hope the suffering will have been pointless.