Burnt by the Sun -CineTV Contest

The theme for the new periodic CineTV Contest is FOREIGN FILMS. The contest rules are HERE

Burnt by the Sun (Russian: Утомлённые солнцем, translit. Utomlyonnye solntsem, literally "wearied by the sun") was in city theaters here in Wisconsin in the summer of 1995. It had won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and the opportunity to drive to Madison to see the film could not have been timed more perfectly for me.

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Source

I had been invited to join a Friendship Force tour sponsored by the state of Wisconsin and I was leaving in a few months to travel to Russia. I had never seen a Russian film before and was quite excited to have an opportunity to hear the Russian language spoken.

This is a dramatic story of a Soviet hero and his family during the Great Purge of the late 1930s in the Stanlist Soviet Union. I saw this film over 25 years ago and it has been one of those films that was unforgettable for me.

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I brought up the film while at a dinner party in my host family's home in Sergiev Posad, Russia. I did not speak any Russian and my hostess attempted to translate my question about who had seen the movie and it was met with blank looks and then out came the Russian/English dictionaries and there was plenty of animated conversation as everyone tried to decipher what in the world I was talking about. After much too long I was trying to explain that it wasn't an important question, when finally someone realized that the film had a different title in Russia and yes, many people at the table had seen it. But an in depth film discussion was not possible!

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It was my first realization that films were marketed under different titles in different countries. And in those pre internet days that information was not readily accessible!

It is a memorable film and if you like Russian films, this is a good one!

What is a memorable foreign film that you have seen?

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