Between Truth and Time by Christine Elaine Evans

Author:Christine Elaine Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300208962
Publisher: Yale University Press

FIGURE 15. Stalin gardening in The Fall of Berlin (directed by Chiaureli, 1949)

The differences between these two films’ credits likewise suggest how Stirlitz was to displace Stalin at the top of artistic and political hierarchies. Both movies feature both a cinematic Stalin and another chief protagonist; in The Fall of Berlin that hero is a celebrated worker who enlists in the war effort and ends up helping deliver the Soviet flag to the top of the Reichstag. In the 1950 film, the titles first list the actor playing Stalin, then the group of actors portraying other government and military leaders, and only then the humble male lead. In those episodes of Seventeen Moments that include Stalin (played by Andro Koboladze), however, the titles name Tikhonov/Stirlitz first, followed by Koboladze/Stalin, followed by the rest of the cast.

The discussions of these two dramatic characters in the Gorky Studio meetings suggest how Stirlitz was constructed in conscious opposition to Stalin. Perhaps thinking of the portrayal of Stalin in films like The Fall of Berlin, Lioznova told the group that she had been careful to avoid the implication that Stirlitz had played any implausibly central role in the war effort. Responding to questions and objections from the Gorky Studio council about the film’s inclusion of newsreel footage of major battles presented as Stirlitz’s thoughts and memories—a set of “memories” so vast and inclusive that it was physically impossible for Stirlitz to have personally experienced them—Lioznova explained that the point of these scenes was to show that “however brilliant an intelligence agent he was, the fate of the war was decided not by Stirlitz, but by the enormous effort of the people.” We tried, she told the studio representatives, “to make Stirlitz not a superspy, but a person, who wholeheartedly, with every part of his being, does what he has been entrusted to do. He is assigned a task, and he does it as best as he can. He’s a talented person and he does things the way he is supposed to.”82 For Lioznova, one of Stirlitz’s most important qualities was exactly this obedience to those who give him orders. In the Gorky Studio comments quoted above, Lioznova repeated the fact that Stirlitz does what he is told three times in row; the characterization of Stirlitz as both talented and obedient was echoed by other Gorky Studio members as well.83

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.