"In August 44th …" - a film that returned us a heroic story
War films always demand historical truth. Each of us carries a piece of this truth in our hearts, passing it on from generation to generation. Indeed, in almost every family, someone went to the front, and many did not return. Therefore, falsity or inventions are not allowed. The long-awaited film "In August 1944 …" was watched with enthusiasm by the whole country …
The film directed by Mikhail Ptashuk "In August 44th …" based on the novel "Moment of Truth" by Vladimir Bogomolov was filmed for the 55th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. In this film, you will not see a vivid video sequence or large-scale battle scenes. Nevertheless, it continues to be watched and revised today, although 17 years have passed since the picture was released.
The number of views and reviews of the film testifies to its special status and undeniable importance. What's so amazing about this film that puts it in a special category? After all, many films have been shot about this terrible war and the Great Victory of our people.
Undoubtedly, the brilliant cast (Evgeny Mironov as Captain Alekhin, Vladislav Galkin as Lieutenant Tamantsev, Yuri Kolokolnikov as Lieutenant Blinov, and others) played a role in the success of the film with the audience, and the rich literary material that formed the basis of the film. However, this does not fully explain the film's overpopularity phenomenon. There is a feeling that "there is something else" … But what? Let's try to solve this riddle with the help of the System-Vector Psychology of Yuri Burlan.
Films about the war - the historical memory of the people
It so happened that my Soviet childhood was spent in military garrisons. The main entertainment was going to the club, where movies were shown in the evenings. In the back rows - soldiers, in the first - we, children of officers. And every day there is a film, most often about the war. So, as a child, I reviewed the entire repertoire of Soviet films about the Great Patriotic War. Of course, with such a cultural program, I grew up with a feeling of deep love and respect for the Motherland.
Reliable films about that terrible war help preserve the historical memory of the people, again and again testifying to those terrible years for the country and not letting them be forgotten. Every year there are fewer and fewer participants in those tragic events. But to a large extent thanks to good and correct films about the war, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the heroes continue to be proud of their great country, feeling themselves part of the victorious people.
War films always demand historical truth. Each of us carries a piece of this truth in our hearts, passing it on from generation to generation. Indeed, in almost every family, someone went to the front, and many did not return. Therefore, falsity or inventions are not allowed. The long-awaited film "In August 1944 …" was watched with enthusiasm by the whole country.
Link between eras
During my youth, hard times came for my native country. With the collapse of the USSR, we lost the country, the system of landmarks and basic values in an instant. An entire nation was left to fend for itself, the collective system of security and safety collapsed. For the former Soviet people, survival has become the main task in life.
Timelessness has come for the domestic cinema. There were no resources for serious large-scale projects. After the abolition of censorship, real works of cinema art were suddenly superseded by cheap handicrafts - frankly vulgar comedies and the so-called "chernukha", which only fueled collective frustrations.
The country was flooded with a stream of Western film production - stupid comedies, action films with a massacre, chilling thrillers. New "ideas" of all-consuming consumption, fierce competition and an exceptionally pragmatic attitude to life came into insurmountable contradiction with the system of values built during the Soviet period.
According to the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan, in this way there was a too abrupt transition of our society from the anal historical phase of development to the skin one. And the discrepancy between Russian and Western cultural values is explained by the difference in the mental superstructure. And of course, these events did not pass without leaving a trace, providing our people in the 90s with a constant state of stress, which affected both the health and psychological state of everyone, and the general climate in society.
We have lived in such a terrible state for a long and difficult decade. And then came the year 2000. This year has become a turning point in our history. It was not only a temporary transition from one century (even a millennium!) To another, but also a global change of power in the country - Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin became the president of Russia. As Yuri Burlan says at his lectures on system-vector psychology, the new president of Russia "managed to lead the country out of a deadly peak, when there was no longer any hope of salvation." It was at this moment that the film "In August 1944 …" was released on the screens of the country.
I was lucky to see this film one of the first and on the big screen. After a long break, I again, like in childhood, saw a real film about the Great Patriotic War! After watching, I was overwhelmed with a very strong feeling - I felt that not all was lost: WE ARE! WE ARE ALIVE! RUSSIAN HISTORY CONTINUES! This means that we have a future! So the film "In August 44th …" became a link between the eras.
The people and their history
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they humiliated us for many years, calling us a "scoop", devaluing our history. They almost managed to convince us that since “we cannot show our money,” that is, in terms of the level of consumption we cannot in any way compare with the inhabitants of developed Western countries, it means that the price is not worth it. I must say that the ideological war against Russia was in full swing, and the substitution of values almost took place.
Even the most sacred thing was questioned - the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, which was won by extraordinary heroism and unthinkable sacrifices. They began to convince us that Stalin was to blame for the outbreak of the war and huge losses. That the Russian soldiers who liberated Europe at the cost of their lives are in fact the occupiers. And in general, if we compare the level of material well-being in Russia and West Germany, then we have nothing to be proud of, since the defeated live better than their victors.
The film "In August 1944 …" was able to revive our historical memory. The new film about the war showed our heroic past with simple realistic images. This film returned the main and the secondary, good and evil, to their places, and launched the process of restoring moral values.
"What kind of story do people need?" - Yuri Burlan asks a question at the training on system-vector psychology. And he answers: "Only heroic!" That is why in some countries they are inclined, to put it mildly, to embellish history, masking uncomfortable moments and thinking out heroic ones. Russia is a rare country that doesn't need to invent and embellish its history, which is 100% heroic without any tricks.
Delights and controversies
Surprisingly, the debate about the film "In August 44th …" continues to this day. The author of the script and the novel-source Vladimir Bogomolov asked to remove his name from the credits and forbade the use of the title of the novel - "The Moment of Truth" as the title of the film. With disappointment, he called the film a "primitive action movie" depicting a special case, which, in his opinion, does not correspond to the content of the novel.
Those who read the novel exclaim: "The book is better!" But how to show the thought process at the level of the image, in which all the charm of the novel is? One voice-over is clearly not enough for this. Perhaps, comparing the book and its film version is generally meaningless - both the novel and the film have their own strengths and weaknesses, their own special tasks. So let the book and the movies live their own lives!
There are also those who compare the film with modern Hollywood cinema. In their opinion, if it is not very spectacular, there are no special effects, then such a movie does not reach a certain level set by the same Hollywood standards. Is this comparison only legitimate? This film needs to be judged on a completely different scale of values.
Let's leave the torment of the author, comparisons of readers and viewers, behind-the-scenes intrigues. Let's look at the film "In August 1944 …" and its cultural role more globally, especially since the "age" of the film gives us such an opportunity. We need an answer to the most important question: does a work of art fulfill its cultural objectives or not?
What cultural tasks did this painting accomplish? Reanimation of the heroic past, consolidation of society, restoration of the urethral system of values of our people, for whom life is more important for everyone than individual life. The film "In August 1944 …" performed these super tasks with dignity. Moreover, regardless of their creators, they deliberately deliberately, perhaps, did not plan anything so global.
A year before the Victory
Consider systematically some of the vivid episodes of the film, which tells about the work of counterintelligence Smersh ("Death to Spies") during the war. Almost a year remains before victory. During Operation Neman, counterintelligence agents - experienced trackers - are looking for enemy agents in the forests of liberated Belarus. The stake in this "hunt" is very high - the success of an important military operation of the Soviet troops.
Captain Alyokhin's group acts in a well-coordinated and professional manner, with one hundred percent dedication, forgetting about themselves, despite the bad weather, fatigue, hunger, not relaxing for a minute. We see a great desire to do the maximum possible, even more than the maximum. Each of the members of the combat group understands that everything can depend on their actions - both the result of a specific planned military operation, and the outcome of the war as a whole. There are no small tasks in war.
They all work for wear and tear, forgetting about themselves. But despite all efforts, there are still no results - the enemy radio operator continues to go on the air and send encrypted radio messages. We see how harshly Alekhine is reprimanded, but there are no objections or resentment on his part. Because what is happening is not about yourself, it is about the country and the people. When you are responsible for the fate of everyone, personal problems disappear. "Who if not me?" - according to this principle all Soviet people worked, giving "everything for the front, everything for Victory!"
From each according to his ability
There is an episode in the film when the youngest of the counterintelligence officers - Lieutenant Blinov - unexpectedly meets fellow soldiers. Their echelon is sent to the front, and a novice operative begins to think that there, on the front line, he will be more useful than "picking up cigarette butts." But Tamantsev, noticing his confusion, immediately upsets him and brings him back to reality, explaining that here he is most needed today. “If this cigarette butt is needed for business, it’s not a pity to give half of your life for it. And the sense will be!"
And how did it happen that Blinov ended up in Alekhine's group, having come here after being wounded and in the hospital? The thing is that Stalin's olfactory policy contributed to the creation in the country of a perfect, ideally working system of personnel selection. The principle "from each according to his ability" worked flawlessly: during the war, every Soviet citizen found himself in his place and worked "for the front, for Victory", using all his potential, at the maximum of his capabilities. Someone saw in Blinov the qualities of a hunter-tracker - and now he is already in counterintelligence.
In the film, we also see the professionalism and maximum dedication of other military personnel who help Alekhine's group to follow the trail of the enemy radio transmitter. Against their background, the behavior of a commandant's office officer, who does not want to realize the seriousness of the operation and his role in it, thinking about his minor problems, looks disgusting and causes real bewilderment. The result is deplorable: he fails his comrades and dies himself.
Concentration versus relaxation
Concentration on others, the desire to see the world through the eyes of enemies and thus calculate their actions, we see in Captain Alekhine. So and only in this way - having penetrated the thoughts and feelings of the enemy - Alekhin managed to figure out the very clearing into which the scouts with a walkie-talkie behind them came out. A person with a sound vector is capable of the highest degree of concentration on another.
Let's look at another interesting episode of the film - how Tamantsev splits a radio operator. Depicting an attack after a shell shock, he begins to yell at a young saboteur, greatly frightening him. As a result, he tells all the secret information and agrees to participate in the transmission of encryption to the enemy. In the lessons on the sound vector, Yuri Burlan reveals in detail why the cry has such a strong psychological effect on any person.
How did Tamantsev manage to do this? Thanks to the extreme degree of concentration. The wounded Alekhin, the leader of the group, is incapacitated. Two of the three saboteurs are killed. Only one radio operator remains alive. Seeing in his eyes the fear of death, Tamantsev, not allowing himself to come to his senses and come to his senses, surrounded by still warm corpses, immediately begins a psychic attack: "I will not live, I will finish him off." Blinov, no less focused, understands his goal and immediately plays along with him, shouting to the radio operator: “He's shell-shocked! Don't try to lie to him!"
Together they achieve their goal: the radio was captured, the call sign of the transmitter and all the data on the sabotage group were obtained, the radio operator was recruited, a military operation on the territory would not be required. This is the moment of truth when the operatives forced the enemy to prove himself, to show his true essence. “Grandma has arrived. The comb is no longer needed. Another small big step on the way to Victory has been taken!
Real life
Finally, I would like to say that the film "In August 44th …" evokes really good feelings after watching. Because we see the right people and the right actions. We feel: these are real people who live real life! Such feelings align within us the tilt of the moral core, which sometimes causes our difficult modern life.
After watching the film, a new understanding arises that we not only can, we should be proud of our heroic grandparents! And do not be at all ashamed of their naivety and lack of silvery, as it might seem to someone today. They forgot about themselves and did not feel sorry for themselves yesterday, so that today we could look at the stars, work, dream, fall in love. They lived for a future that they will not see, for you and me, and from this they were truly happy.
And there is a good, correct desire to live your own life also for real, on the scale of the big "WE", and not the small "I". If everyone works in their place with maximum efficiency, then we will live differently. This is especially important today - in a "conditionally peaceful" time, in the midst of an information war against Russia and the growth of international tension. When we must understand exactly and clearly what is happening in the world as never before. When our common tomorrow depends on our every action or inaction today.
System-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan teaches us to live to the fullest, teaches concentration and dedication, teaches us to understand the cause-and-effect relationships of what is happening and teaches us to understand ourselves. Come for a new quality of life - sign up for an online training at the link.
