Fifteen years ago Nikita Mikhalkov took away an Oscar for his drama Burnt by the Sun. Now he’s back with an epic sequel subtitled Exodus. The destinies of the persecuted Kotov and his daughter Nadya unfold against the backdrop of the first, tragic stage of World War II. Mikhalkov draws attention to the chaos and terror of the retreat, the incompetence of the military command, and the barbarity of human loss. He destroys the inviolability of the heroic myth and creates his own myth instead, founded on faith in divine providence and sustained by compassion and love.
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.
180 min / Color, DCP
Director Nikita Mikhalkov
/ Screenplay Nikita Michalkov / Nikita Mikhalkov, Alexandr Novotockij-Vlasov / Alexander Novototsky-Vlasov, Vladimír Moisejenko / Vladimir Moiseenko, Gleb Panfilov
/ Dir. of Photography Vladislav Opeljanc / Vladislav Opelyants
/ Music Eduard Artěmjev / Eduard Artemyev
/ Editor Svetolik Zajc
/ Producer Nikita Michalkov / Nikita Mikhalkov, Leonid Vereščagin / Leonid Vereshchagin
/ Production Studio TriTe
/ Cast Nikita Michalkov / Nikita Mikhalkov, Oleg Menšikov / Oleg Menshikov, Naděžda Michalkova / Nadezhda Mikhalkova, Dmitrij Djužev / Dmitri Dyuzhev, Sergej Makoveckij / Sergei Makovetsky
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.
Nikita Mikhalkov
Lucie Mazůrková
Distributor
Marta Vaněčková
Distributor
Michal Kroupa
Distributor, Distributor
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