Released in 1957, The Cranes are Flying (Летят журавли) is the only Soviet film to ever win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1958. Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov and the career-making movie of Tatiana Samoilova, it redefined women’s roles on the screen. From the end of World War II until Stalin’s death in 1953, cinema was censored and wartime films had to glorify the Soviet state. When the “Khrushchev Thaw” began in 1954, filmmakers had a new attitude towards war films. Instead of focusing on the collective glory of soldiers, they turned towards the homefront and the individual. The Cranes are Flying was one of the first – and the most famous – of such films, focused on the role of women in the war.
Following a young couple, the story focuses on Veronika, who is separated from Boris due to the war. After losing her family in air raids, she moves in with Boris’s family. Mark takes advantage of Veronika’s vulnerability and assaults her. He later leverages her guilt over what has happened against her, coercing Veronika into an unexpected marriage. Previously, Soviet cinema demanded that women were unwaveringly faithful to the absent soldiers. Though Veronika is devoted to Boris, society perceives her marriage to Mark as a betrayal. After an evacuation to Siberia, the anguish of the homefront is continuously shown.
For example, the strain on hospitals and doctors is highlighted through the Borozdin family, as the father and daughter both work as surgeons. They comment on the overcrowding and lack of supplies as they refuse soldiers admittance, highlighting the disruption of civilian life. The devastation of families is represented by Veronika finding and adopting a young boy who is also named Boris. When the Borozdin family discovers that Mark lied to get his exemption from the war, they kick him out. Veronika is accepted into the family again while they wait for Boris to return, although he is missing in action.
In Siberia, women are shown as doctors, nurses, and holding their families (and by extension, the nation) together. For the first time in Soviet cinema, Kalatozov portrayed women’s wartime suffering and resilience with honesty. At the end of the film, Veronika finally accepts Boris’s death. Her devastation is acknowledged by those around her, but she finds the courage to suppress her grief and enjoy the reunions of those around her.
The Cranes are Flying focuses on Veronika’s life, rather than that of the Soviet Union. Its focus on the women who worked on the homefront helped to create a new character in Soviet cinema. From this fresh portrait of women and of World War II, as well as its spectacular cinematography, it is no wonder that it won the Palme d’Or in 1958. By shifting wartime films from collective triumph to the individuals’ endurance, as well as having women as central to both survival and healing from war’s wounds, The Cranes are Flying redefined Soviet cinema and secured itself as a timeless piece.
-Hannah Spencer
Junior Girl
Girl Museum Inc.
In what ways does Kalatozov’s focus on the individual experience of war—particularly women’s suffering and resilience—redefine the narrative of Soviet wartime films, and what might this suggest about the role of cinema in shaping collective memory?
Our thoughts: Before The Cranes are Flying, Soviet films focused on the glory of the front. Women were rarely displayed as anything other than loving supporters of their men, sacrificing comfort for the betterment of the Soviet Union. However, the focus on individual experience allowed for nuanced experiences of wartime, more realistic to truth. The individual experience reduces the scale for the viewer, focusing on an emotional experience. Cinema can be used to inform or build emotional narratives, changing the role of media from feeding the population an opinion of the war (that it was glorious and there was little struggle) to allowing them to acknowledge the truth of war (mass devastation), which they had not been allowed to do in previous years.