Dear Comrades!

{{Infobox film

| name = Dear Comrades!

| image = Dear Comrades!.jpg

| caption = Film poster

| native_name = {{Lang|ru|Дорогие товарищи!}}

| director = Andrei Konchalovsky

| producer = Andrei Konchalovsky
Olesya Gidrat
Alisher Usmanov

| writer =

| screenplay = {{Plainlist|

Andrei Konchalovsky
Elena Kiseleva

}}

| story =

| based_on =

| starring = {{Plainlist|

Julia Vysotskaya
Sergei Erlish
Yuliya Burova
Vladislav Komarov
Andrey Gusev

}}

| music =

| cinematography = Andrey Naydenov

| editing = {{Plainlist|

Sergei Taraskin
Karolina Maciejewska

}}

| studio = Andrei Konchalovsky Studios

| distributor = Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (Russia)

| released = {{film date|2020|9|7|Venice|df=yes}}

| runtime = 121 minutes

| country = Russia

| language = Russian

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Dear Comrades! ({{langx|ru|Дорогие товарищи!|Dorogie tovarishchi!}}) is a 2020 Russian historical drama film about the Novocherkassk massacre produced, co-written and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2020/film/global/andrei-konchalovsky-dear-comrades-films-boutique-1234721895/ |title=Andrei Konchalovsky's Venice Competition Title Dear Comrades Snapped Up by Films Boutique |work=Variety |access-date=31 July 2020}} It was entered in competition at the 77th Venice International Film Festival.{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2020/07/venice-film-festival-2020-lineup-1234576400/|title=Venice Film Festival 2020 Full Lineup: Luca Guadagnino, Chloe Zhao, Gia Coppola, and More|last=Sharf|first=Zack|work=IndieWire|date=28 July 2020|access-date=28 July 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2020/venezia-77-competition|title=Venezia 77 Competition|publisher=La Biennale di Venezia|website=labiennale.org|date=28 July 2020|access-date=28 July 2020}} At Venice, the film won the Special Jury Prize.{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2020/09/venice-film-festival-2020-winners-list-1234585982/ |title=Venice Film Festival 2020 Winners: Nomadland Takes Golden Lion, Vanessa Kirby Is Best Actress |work=IndieWire |access-date=12 September 2020}} The film received a nomination for BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language and was selected as the Russian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, making the shortlist of fifteen films.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2021/film/news/oscars-shortlist-2021-makeup-visual-score-song-international-documentary-1234904174/ |title=Oscars Shortlists Announced in Nine Categories |work=Variety |first=Clayton |last=Davis |date=9 February 2021 |access-date=10 February 2021}}

Plot

The film tells about the shooting of a demonstration of workers in Novocherkassk in 1962. Lyudmila is a party worker of the local city committee, and a staunch communist. During a large workers' strike at the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant over rising food prices and cuts in wages, Lyudmila witnesses the mass shooting of demonstrators by order of the Government Commission, which is trying to hide the strike from the rest of the USSR.

During the protest and massacre, Lyudmila's 18-year-old daughter Svetka disappears. Lyudmila searches for her daughter frantically, but discreetly, as the KGB begins arresting suspects, secretly burying bodies, locking the town down completely, and legally swearing every person in town to total silence about the events. Lyudmila struggles to understand how the government could do all this, but also tries to convince herself that communism will triumph in the end. She longs for the days when Stalin ruled, but also prays and begs God to let her daughter still be alive.

A sympathetic KGB agent surreptitiously tries to help her locate her daughter. They eventually make their way out of the town to check a rural cemetery where some of the bodies have been secretly buried. A policeman who was ordered to bury the bodies in decrepit graves confirms that he buried the girl in the picture Lyudmila shows him of her daughter Svetka. She becomes grief-stricken when he mentions the girl's toes were sticking out of a hole in one stocking - a hole Lyudmila had recently told her daughter to sew up.

She drinks heavily on the way back to town. She is overcome with grief and confusion about all that has happened and what it means for communism and for her life. When she gets back to her apartment at night, her own father is packing up Svetka's suitcase. He tells Lyudmila that Svetka is up on the roof.

Lyudmila races up the stairs, and through a window sees her daughter hiding on the roof. She is overcome with joy and shock and repeats God's name in wonder that her daughter is alive. As she hugs Svetka, she promises that she will protect her from the KGB. As the film ends, Lyudmila embraces her daughter and repeats the words, "We'll do better."

Cast

Julia Vysotskaya as Lyudmila 'Lyuda' Syomina
Sergei Erlish as Lyuda's father
Yuliya Burova as Svetka, Lyuda's daughter
Vladislav Komarov as Loginov
Andrey Gusev as Viktor

Reception

{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|93|8.1|58|Dear Comrades takes a sharp, commanding look at a dark chapter in Soviet history made even more effective by its director's cold fury.|ref=yes|access-date=4 January 2024}} According to Metacritic, which sampled 19 critics and calculated a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, the film received "universal acclaim".{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/dear-comrades!|title=Dear Comrades!|website=Metacritic|publisher=Red Ventures|access-date=20 January 2021}}

Mark Kermode of The Observer gave the film 4/5 stars, writing, "Seamlessly blending exterior shots of Novocherkassk with grand sets constructed in Moscow, Konchalovsky creates an utterly convincing air of mounting chaos, brilliantly captured on multiple cameras marshalled by cinematographer Andrey Naydenov."{{Cite news |last=Kermode |first=Mark |date=2021-01-17 |title=Dear Comrades! review – dreams and disillusionment of a Communist party stalwart |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/17/dear-comrades-review-andrei-konchalovsky-julia-vysotskaya |access-date=2024-01-04 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday gave it 4/4 stars, saying that it "may not make perfect sense of the past, but it goes a long way in allowing people to look at it with a clarity that manages to be exacting and compassionate at the same time."{{Cite news |last=Hornaday |first=Ann |date=2021-01-31 |title=Review {{!}} Russian drama shines a multifaceted lens on a shameful chapter of Soviet history |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/dear-comrades-movie-review/2021/01/27/6d9cb520-5f29-11eb-afbe-9a11a127d146_story.html |access-date=2024-01-04 |work=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}