The Lark (1965 film)

1965 Soviet war film

1 May 1965 (1965-05-01)

Running time

91 minutesCountrySoviet UnionLanguageRussian

The Lark (Russian: Жаворонок, romanized: Zhavoronok) is a 1965 Soviet World War II film directed by Nikita Kurikhin and Leonid Menaker.^[1] It was entered into the 1965 Cannes Film Festival.^[2]

It features a story of a T-34 battle tank and its crew who escape from German training ground after being used as a living target practice. The tank becomes the titular lark, roaming through the land, announces incoming end of the Nazi rule, like larks announce end of winter season.

The film is characteristic for its symbolism with scenes featuring destruction of a German monument in a heart of a city the tank enters, or symbolic destruction of the Wehrmacht when the tank accidentally crashes inside a cinema building and drives through the screen during a German propaganda movie display. The T-34 tank is a symbol itself, being portrayed like an unstoppable, almost god-like creature that inserts fear into occupants by destroying symbols of Nazi rule and enthusiasm into the Soviet captives witnessing its march. Even after its crew is killed, the tank continues its march, driving towards light of the sun.

Cast

Gennadi Yukhtin
Valeri Pogoreltsev
Valentins Skulme
Bruno Oja
Ervin Abel
Heino Mandri
Lyudmila Glazova
Lyubov Malinovskaya

References

^ Gershenson, Olga (15 July 2013). The Phantom Holocaust: Soviet Cinema and Jewish Catastrophe. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0813561820. Retrieved 1 May 2019 – via Google Books.
^ "Festival de Cannes: Zhavoronok". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 6 March 2009.