An interesting Russian film to show to student audience
Josh Wilson
jwilson at SRAS.ORG
Thu Dec 20 13:17:24 UTC 2007
>Hi all!
>One of the most poetic films I have ever seen:
>Vozvrashchenie by Andrei Zvyagintsev
>Also wonderful:
>Ostrov by Petr Mamonov
>
>Regards,
>Alexandra
Again, both of these of are beautiful films. However, I would not recommend
either as a film for students.
With Ostrov, I guarantee that even advanced students will be frustrated in
trying to understand the biblical speech used in the film. It would be a bit
like asking a student of English to watch Hamlet for exposure to the English
language. Culturally, it might be a good experience, but linguistically it's
likely to be a lesson in futility and not altogether helpful unless the
student is extremely advanced and interested specifically in linguistics.
Vozvrashchenie is also a very good film, but very dark and heavy. The
director, in interviews, stated specifically that his film was not meant to
uplift or instruct, but to simply show the dark and unusual events - leaving
the viewer to make his/her own opinions (or not make any opinions).
Americans have been raised to believe that there should be a clear plot,
with reasoning for character's actions fairly clearly spelled out. In other
words, if you looking to give your students a glimpse into the Russian soul,
this might be a good film to show, but you will need to explain that soul
and how it came to be expressed through Russian drama via historical
influences. Russian drama is, in many ways, more similar to Japanese Noh
drama than to America's version of dramatic realism. Noh drama need not have
a definite plot or moral, but instead concentrates on creating mood through
character interactions. When I showed examples of this drama to Theatre 101
students back in the States, their immediate reaction was almost always:
"What was THAT?!?!" My point with this mild tangent is that if you want a
film that is going to submerge your students into a language they are not
used to being submerged in, you don't necessarily want to alienate them
further by changing not only the language, but also the narrative
expectations the film is based on.
I've not seen Zhivoi, but it strikes me from the blurb on IMDB that that one
would also fit nicely in this same category with Vozvrashchenie - a bit like
introducing students to French cooking with a plate of frogs' legs and
escargot. You'll catch more students with crepes and filet mignon -
precisely because they are closer to what the students already believe to be
"normal."
Just another two cents.
Josh Wilson
Asst. Director
The School of Russian and Asian Studies
Editor-in-Chief
Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
www.sras.org
jwilson at sras.org
-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Alexandra Ioannidou
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 1:02 PM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] An interesting Russian film to show to student
audience
-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Andreas Giebelhaus
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 2:55 AM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] An interesting Russian film to show to student
audience
Hello All,
what about "Zhivoy" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0880504/) ?
I my opinion it's a wonderful movie!
regards
Andreas
G Ru<>De Uebersetzungs- und Rechercheservice German-Russian translation and
information service info~AT~giebelhaus-uebersetzungen.de
www.giebelhaus-uebersetzungen.de
__________________________________________________________________________
Am 19.12.07 15:03:28 schrieb Ajda Kljun <ajda.kljun at GMAIL.COM>:
>My two cents on the Russian Ark suggestion: I am a young person
>interested in Russia, its language and its culture, but I still found
>Russian Ark very hard to follow. I think that you must have a pretty
>good knowledge about Russian history and culture to even begin to
>understand the movie. That being said, watching the movie might be a
>wonderful experience if the students were provided some background info
>beforehand? If someone knows of a 'guide to Russian Ark' or something
>similar, please do share :)
>
>Kind regards, Ajda.
>
>2007/12/19, Josh Wilson <jwilson at sras.org>:
>>
>> I second the rec. for Piter FM. Particularly for a general audience
>> of young students, it will sit well with the majority. It's light,
>> funny, and not so sappy that it will lose the males in the group.
>>
>> I thought Day Watch was a bit hard to follow - particularly if you
>> haven't read the books. It's a good movie, but not one I would start
students on.
>> Russian Ark is beautiful, but perhaps a bit expansive and heavy. Save
>> these for the next showing. :)
>>
>> Just another two cents.
>>
>>
>> Josh Wilson
>> Asst. Director
>> The School of Russian and Asian Studies Editor-in-Chief Vestnik, The
>> Journal of Russian and Asian Studies www.sras.org jwilson at sras.org
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
>> [mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Sarah Hurst
>> Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 4:15 AM
>> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] An interesting Russian film to show to
>> student audience
>>
>> I would recommend "Russian Ark" (history of Russia viewed through the
>> corridors of the Hermitage), "The Italian" (boy in an orphanage looks
>> for his mother), and "Night Watch" and "Day Watch", about the
>> struggle between the forces of light and dark, including vampires!
>>
>> Sarah
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
>> [mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Miluse Saskova-Pierce
>> Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 1:31 PM
>> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
>> Subject: [SEELANGS] An interesting Russian film to show to student
>> audience
>>
>> Dear Seelangsters,
>>
>> I am looking for an interesting and not too boring Russian film to
>> show to university and also upper high school audiences. Needs to be
>> recent, interesting and artistic and not too naked. And also
>> available for purchase in the US on DVD, with English version or
subtitles.
>>
>> Do you have any advise? Thank you.
>>
>> Mila
>>
>> Dr. Mila Saskova-Pierce
>> Other Languages Section Head
>> Department of Modern Languages
>> 1133 Oldfather Hall
>> University of Nebraska at Lincoln
>> NE 68588-0315
>>
>> e-mail: msaskova-pierce1 at unl.edu
>>
>> Tel: (402) 472 1336
>> Fax: (402) 472 0327
>>
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