Misplaced Pages

My Motherland (Russian: Моя Родина) is a 1933 Soviet film directed by Iosif Kheifits and Aleksandr Zarkhi.

As a result of the Chinese attack on the Chinese-East Railway, the Russians take prisoner of a soldier named Van. Together with his officer, Van escapes from captivity, but a conflict grows between them.

Plot

A young Chinese laborer, Wang Boxiak (played by Khaidarov), returns to a squalid lodging house after work, where impoverished peasants share space with opium smokers, prostitutes, and livestock. A military patrol arrives and forcibly recruits Wang into the army of the Kuomintang. Meanwhile, at a Soviet border outpost, Red Army soldiers Vasily (Melnikov) and "Baby" (Nazarenko) practice Chinese phrases about class solidarity with the peasants of Manchuria. That evening, Vasily takes his shift on guard duty but is captured by a semi-bandit group of Chinese soldiers allied with remnants of the defeated White Army officers. Among the soldiers is Wang, who witnesses the brutal interrogation of Vasily by Captain Alyabyev (Zhakov) during a raid on a peaceful village.

The Chinese army initiates a direct invasion of Soviet territory, beginning with an attack on a border bridge. A small group of Red Army soldiers valiantly defends their position at the cost of their lives. A massive Soviet counteroffensive repels the invaders. Wang Boxiak, along with many other Chinese soldiers, is taken prisoner, where he observes the stark contrast in the humane treatment of captives by the Soviet forces. After dinner, Wang encounters an officer from his unit, who, feigning friendship and equality, persuades Wang to help him escape. However, once free, the officer reverts to his authoritarian ways, demanding obedience. In a confrontation, Wang kills the officer and returns to the Red Army camp.

In a swift operation, Soviet forces secure several border villages and, following the signing of the Khabarovsk Protocol, return triumphantly to their bases. Chinese peasants and laborers, including Wang Boxiak, bid them farewell as comrades.

Cast

• Bari Haydarov as Van
• Gennadiy Michurin as Vas'ka
• Aleksandr Melnikov as Vasya
• Yanina Zheymo as Olya
• Yun Fa-shu as The Manchurian officer
• Konstantin Nazarenko as Malyutka
• Lyudmila Semyonova as Lyudmila
• Oleg Zhakov as Alyabyev

References

1. Выходные на ВДНХ: Библиотека ремесел, Школа невест и детские стихи Саши Черного
2. Опубликовано расписание сеансов в рамках ретроспективы Петра Багрова "Неканонические шедевры русского и советского кино"
3. Опальному воля
4. Запрещенная родина
5. Моя Родина
6. Моя родина (1933) Full Cast & Crew

External links

• My Motherland at IMDb

This article related to a Soviet film of the 1930s is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• 1933 films
• 1930s Russian-language films
• Soviet drama films
• Russian-language drama films
• 1933 drama films
• Soviet black-and-white films
• Films scored by Gavriil Popov
• 1930s Soviet films
• 1930s Soviet film stubs