Feature film «Farewell of Slavianka».
Mosfilm Studio, 1983.
Cast: Andrey Smolyakov, Vadim Ledogorov, Aleksandra Rovenskikh.
The film is based on the short story «Rivals» by V. Gerasin.
A pre-war village. Two friends — both accordion players. And a girl. Whom will the beauty choose?
Then the war begins, and the story takes an unexpected turn — one of the accordion players returns from the front without an arm…
In essence, however, the film clearly steps beyond the boundaries of this melodramatic triangle. Where exactly? That is for the viewer to decide.
The picture was made without dialogue or any commentary.
The film was not accepted by the management of Mosfilm’s experimental unit. However, in 1990, already during perestroika, the picture was restored with minor changes, released, and shown repeatedly on Russian television. This «perestroika» version was given a new title — «The Hill». It can be found on various video hosting services under that name. The technical condition of «The Hill» is clearly better than that of the original version. Yet the original is still «Farewell of Slavianka».