Nepokoryonnye / [The Unvanquished]

Mark Donskoi: Nepokoryonnye / [The Unvanquished] (SU 1945).

Непокорённые / Nepokorjonnye / [Lannistumattomat].
    SU 1945. D: Marc Donskoï / Mark Donskoy / Mark Donskoi. Based on a story by Boris Gorbatov; SC: Boris Gorbatov, Marc Donskoï; DP: Boris (Benzion) Monastyrski; DP: Moriz Oumanski; M: Lev Shwartz; S: Alexandre Babi;
    CAST: Amvrossi Boutchma (Tarass), Véniamine Zouskine (il dottor Aron Davidovitch), Lidia Kartachova (Efrosinia), Daniil Sagal (Stepan), Evgueni Ponomarenko (Andreï), V. Slavina (Nastia), M. Samosvat (Antonina), Nikolaï Zimovets (Vassiliok), Mikhaïl Troïanovski (Nazare), Ekaterina Osmialovskaïa (Valia), Ivan Kononenko (Maxime), Samuïl Stollerman (l’artista), Alexeï Vatoulia (Ignat), Anton DounaÏski (Chtchovkounov) (Panas), G. Dolgov (Petouchkov), Mikhaïl Vyssotski (l’ingegnere tedesco), Viktor Khalatov (Porossenkov) (il comandante tedesco), Hans Klering (un luogotenente tedesco), Dmitri Kapka (il fabbro), Vadim Zakourenko (Lionka), Iounona Iakovtchenko (Mariïka), Liouda Lizenguevich (la nipotina del dottor Aron Davidovitch);
    PC: Studio di Kiev; 35mm. 2590 m. 94’. B&w. Russian version.
    From: Gosfilmofond. - Presenta Valérie Pozner, earphone commentary in Italian and English, viewed at Cinema Lumière 2, Bologna, 4 July 2009.

Catalogue: "The story of a Ukrainian family of workers during German occupation, which the father, Taras, thinks he can ignore by barricading himself in his house. The other members of the family are slowly swept by the events and join the resistance movement, while the father looks after the daughter of Doctor Aron Davidovitch, who has been murdered in the Babi Yar massacre. - The only pre-1960s Soviet fiction film that directly deals with the Holocaust on Soviet territory. The sequence, though shortened, was not banned, despite the opposition of some members of the Artistic Council of the Committee on Cinema."

AA: A brilliant image quality in the print, but some fuzz on the soundtrack.

The motto is from Taras Bulba (Gogol) which the son of the main family is shown to read, a familiar motif with Donskoy (The Gorky Trilogy). Another familiar Donskoy feature is a score by Lev Schwartz, always with Gorky references.

The theme of the story: Never surrender.

The Jewish doctor is the embodiment of dignity in the picture.

The legendary Babi Jar scene is at 44 min of the film. In this print the scene lasts ca two minutes.

The mission of the father: to save the life of the daughter of the doctor slaughtered in Babi Jar.

The thriller element: one of the villagers has turned into a Nazi collaborator, but he has a change of heart after Babi Jar.

Not one of the best films by Donskoy but an important resistance and Holocaust film with a strong personal commitment by the Odessa-born master.