Siberiade

Over 6 decades of the history of the great Russian land and the country USSR through the lives of two families in a small Siberian village. Two opposite families: Ustuganins, the pure ones; and Solomins, the rich ones. The story of life, love, betrayal, happiness and pain.
This film is very long and very slow. Cinematography is excellent, but it doesn't bother you... it is only helping you to get into the story and the beauty of the Russian land.
If you love good films, if you are interested in history and Russia? A must se.
"Vlad"


Oh, to be exiled to this Siberia!   October 10, 2003
Kelly L. Norman (Plymouth, MI United States)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

Once one gets past the required Marxist dialectic ("rich people bad, poor people good"), there is nothing less than splendid about this Soviet film. The cinematography alone is breathtaking, and the irony of the more adventuresome characters' constant refrain, "They can't exile you any further than Siberia!" is not lost.

The "underdog" family in the film produces men in each generation who shake their fist at their village, rhetorically, and try to get away, but they are always pulled back somehow. As the revolutionary Nikolai says to his young son Alexei, "It's not a good place, but it's the best place for us."

The acting is first rate. Grief, loss, hope, and faith are equally represented throughout the film. Most of the actors are more low-key than in Hollywood films (a fact that allows the Siberian woodlands and scenes of village life, as well as stock film of national events, to play out much of the story). But they do not lack passion. Especially touching is a scene of a youngster grieving for his father. The young actor gives a performance beyond his years.

The recurrent themes and beautiful scenery and music (folk during the rural scenes, electronic during the sped-up, sepia- tinted stock footage) make the six hours of film very easy to digest. Konchalovsky's Siberiade suggests a cinematic Tchaikovsky symphony, with its alternating poignant romance, pathos, and an ending of hopefulness.


I saw it when I was 7 and have sought to share it since.....   April 26, 2000
14 out of 16 found this review helpful

I first saw this film when I was 7 years old, in a funky theatre in SF. My parents took me and my best friend and we had no idea what we were about to experience. I am now 30 and can say that certain imagery from this film is as indelibly imprinted on my memory as events that have occurred in my own life. In college I studied film and can trace my earliest desires to make films of my own to the emotions and sensory intoxication of seeing this film. It captures the amazing history of a continent in a very personal and real sense. It terrifies and triumphs and most of all makes the cinematic experience one that you will carry with you for a long time. After 15 years of searching for a copy of this film a friend of mine suggested Amazon.... If only I could get my local artsy-fartsy theatre to screen it.


One of the best movies ever made.   August 13, 1999
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

Not only does this cover historical context but also the cyclical nature of life and the various effects of cultural changes that dramatically change the environment we live and function in. The film manages to address self-discovery, revolution, the fact that things do not truly ever change as well as the incredibly damaging effect of some people's motives and ensuing actions on our environment, both physically and mentally. It does all this without forcing situations and uses the natural pace of the story line to accentuate the points it wishes to express. Truly amazing and despite its length one feels like it came and went like an hour and a half film. Once the film grips you it has the ability to change lives.