Minin i Pozharskiy (1939) User Reviews

Excellent film

[leonidln · 7/10 · 27 November 2006]

I can't agree with previous contributor. This 'terrible' film is an epic tale made by the creator of 'Mat (Mother)' and 'The End of St. Petersburg'. It resembles Eisenstein's 'Alexander Nevsky' made a year before it, it is a propaganda film and a work of art at the same time. Performances are top-notch, the editing is impressive, battle sequences are magnificent. As for historical truth (see Britannica, for example) Moscow was occupied by the Poles in 1610. In May 1611 'ungrateful' Muscovites rioted and the invaders retreated into the Kremlin. The Russians under the leadership of Minin and Pozarsky forced the Poles to surrender in October 1612. Polish reinforcements under famous general Jan Chodkiewicz escaped from the battlefield. I don't understand what the Polish victory in the battle of Kluszyn (1610) have to do with the Polish defeat two years later, seems not more than Austerlitz have with Waterloo.

The worst and most false historic film ever made

[dantooine69 · 1/10 · 8 October 2005]

This terrible film is a good example of how soviet movie makers served to the Stalin's regime. It's a typical soviet film having completely nothing to do with the historic true. Remarkable it was made in 1939, the year when Red Army together with Hitler's troops invaded Poland; so the main purpose of Pudovkin's movie was obvious - to show how savage and cruel were Polish occupants of Moscow's Kremlin in the beginning of 17th century. In the last film scene we see Polish cavalry, hussard's, escaping from a battlefield. In reality, during the battle of Kluszyn (04th July 1610)30 000 Russians escaped quickly after a short battle against 7000 Polish Army - this example shows how historical truth was shown in this "masterpiece".