Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears

Well, I prayed and Professor Isham delivered. I am very happy we were able to watch another entertainment/comedic movie. It's not that I don't appreciate the socialist propaganda directors have incorporated in the films we have watched, I just feel more comfortable watching movies with distinct plots that do not try to shove underlying ideologies down my throat. I think we can all agree that the historic value of movies such as "Chapaev" and "Mother" is great. They just lack that entertainment factor that people long for nowadays. I found this especially apparent after reading the assigned homework in "A History of Russian Cinema." During the "Thaw," that's all people wanted to see when watching films.

One of the things that made this movie interesting was the time period that it was portraying. The film was set during the "Thaw" in Russia in the mid 1950s. Stalin had recently passed away and there was a shift in the air regarding the way people perceived life. The socialist regime was starting to become a thing in the past and the younger generation was beginning to become more outspoken. An example of this is depicted in the first few scenes of the movie where Katerina has friends over for dinner. She meets an older gentleman who had a very reserved personality and did not seem very personable. He was almost bland in a way. This is the way people were during Stalin's reign. They were told what to do and had little to no authority in their everyday lives. As the movie continued, the personalities of Katerina, Lyuda, and Antonina portrayed an obvious contrast to the "old ways" of doing things.

Another part of the movie that was very entertaining was the timeline of the film. I like that it was split into two parts. One, where we see the main characters as young women looking for love and the other portraying them as adults. After watching the first part, I wasn't exactly sure what the future might hold for the women. At first, it seemed to me that Lyuda might be the first one to find happiness after she met the famous hockey player, Sergei Gurin. It was obvious that he genuinely like her from the beginning even though Lyuda felt he was lying because she thought he could have any girl he wanted. It was unfortunate to see that their relationship fell through in the first few scenes of part 2. As for Katerina's relationship, I really don't know what to say. I mean, who meets a complete stranger on the train and creates a relationship out of it under a week? Well, this was mainly due to the persistence of Gosha. He was so blunt and meaningful in his way of doing things, it was almost contagious. I really liked him as a character. He definitely grew on me as the film went on. I'm happy that things worked put between Katerina and Gosha. I guess when you know you've found the one, the time you have known each other becomes an afterthought.