[Marxism] Siberia Monamour; The Edge

[Louis Proyect]

Something tells me that Russian film is going through some kind of 
renaissance. My first inkling was “Silent Souls”, Aleksei Fedorchenko’s 
meditation on love and loss among the Merjan people that I reviewed last 
month. Like “Silent Souls”, two recent films are set in Russia’s 
hinterlands and to be sure, there is nothing more hinter than Siberia. 
Last night I saw “Siberia, Monamour” that kicked off the Eleventh Annual 
Russian Film Week in New York at the Village East theater. If this film 
is any indication of the quality of the films being shown at this 
festival through November 5th, and I suspect it is, New Yorkers are 
strongly urged to check out the schedule and make time for something 
special. Also set in Siberia is “The Edge”, a striking mixture of life 
in the gulag and steam locomotives! It opens at the Laemmle Theater in 
Los Angeles on November 23rd. Both of these films capture the visual 
beauty of the Siberian taiga (mountainous forests resembling the 
Canadian Rockies) as well as its physical and psychological isolation. 
Superior story telling and performances mark both as well. While neither 
one is explicitly political, it is obvious that both represent attempts 
to come to grips with the Soviet experience.

full: 
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/siberia-monamour-the-edge/