Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus

Colour, DCP
Russia, France, Germany, 2010, 180 min
Section: Open Eyes

Synopsis

1941. Kotov, a persecuted commander reclassified as an ordinary convict, wakes up from a horrifying dream about Stalin to find himself in the midst of war. After his labour camp is blown up, he is drafted to a penal military unit. His daughter Nadya miraculously survives the sinking of a ship. She has never renounced her father and she has no idea to what extent his fate was determined by her mother’s old flame Mitya, a colonel in the NKGB (People’s Commissariat for State Security). Kotov, deployed to dig trenches outside Moscow, and Nadya, now a nurse caring for those injured at the front, are united only by memories.... Their story represents a mere fragment of the film’s tragic vision: the early stage of World War II was governed by chaos, botched military operations and unnecessary loss of life. The tangle of episodes presents a myriad heroes and victims, each with their own eloquently sketched character and destiny. This poignantly stylised fresco destroys the inviolable myth of the heroic wartime epic and creates its own myth of faith in divine providence, founded on the indestructible power of love and compassion.

About the director

Nikita Mikhalkov (b. 1945, Moscow) studied acting at Shchukin theatre school (1963-66) and film direction at the VGIK (1968–71) and was soon attracting attention for the films At Home among Strangers (1974), A Slave of Love (1975), An Unfinished Piece for Piano (1976), Five Evenings (1978) and Oblomov (1979). After Kinfolk (1981) and Without Witnesses (1983), he shot the Italian coproduction Dark Eyes (1987), Close to Eden (Urga, 1991 – Golden Lion at Venice, EFA’s Felix award), produced by his own studio TriTe, the Oscar-winning Burnt by the Sun (1994), The Barber of Siberia (1998) and 12 (2007 – special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement). Burnt by the Sun 2 (2010) is divided into two parts: Exodus (Predstoyaniye) and Citadel. Mikhalkov is Chairman of the Russian Cinematographers’ Union and President of the Russian Culture Fund, the Moscow IFF and the National Film Academy, which presents the annual Golden Eagle awards.