nya-85256
The main movie antagonists were agrarian anarchists, some may argue they were Ukrainian nationalists as well. While the Red Army image is idealized and softened there, the image of their opponents is significantly softened too, it's a comedy after all. If you read, for instance, Mikhail Bulgakov's (the same guy who wrote "Master and Margarita") "The White Guard" it has some pretty unappetizing details of what those did, Bulgakov knew how it was, being in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War. They also fought both sides, sometimes allied with one or another, in the aforementioned book Ukrainian nationalists, mostly upraised peasants, fight the White Army, i.e. the counter-revolutionary army, which held Kiev and at the end it's briefly described how they were forced to leave Kiev by the Red Army. A lot of anarchists of those times were actual bandits or at least shady guys, though those mostly were city anarchists. Consider Popandopulo, that funny guy who sings an amusing song how he met a pretty girl in pink stockings on the sea sand, how they parted and later she kisses another and "bites" him, if you know the Russian 20th century folk music you recognize the genre which later got known as "Russian chanson" or criminal music at once (some of those songs are actually funny and sometimes even cute), probably you recognize it even if you don't know the Russian music, since it's said that he and Marusya parted because he had to flee from cops. Also consider this song from another Soviet movie of 60ss, "The optimistic tragedy" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDu_0bza1aw note how glad the female commissar is to meet them :3), this time it's those anarchists who served the Red Army, the song ("...let we have vodka, and a throat to drink it, and we don't care of anything, let we have a jacket with a brunette inside...") isn't fully authentic but it's likely based on some authentic material and nowadays is often sung as a part of "The fried chicken" which is a real anarchist song of that time (it's about how some guy is getting arrested). Speaking of the agrarian anarchists, a few of those were peasants who disliked that they were forced to give away their bread, mostly by the Red Army (before you begin to blame the Red Army, they tried to stop the looming hunger in the main cities, also the notorious Ukraine famine "holodomor" was 10 years later and is a result of collectivization, it's a different matter whatsoever). It didn't stop those peasants from hanging Jews by their genitalia (pardon) and stuff though. It's a tragic matter by itself too, one Soviet poet, Eduard Bagritsky, wrote a surprisingly, for that time, sympathetic poem "The lay of Opanas" about one Ukrainian peasant who fled from one such Red food gathering command hoping to become a farmhand, but was caught by Makhno (a known peasant anarchist leader) and forced to join his band, later forced to execute his former Jewish commander (he tried to save him, but he refused to flee seeing no chance to succeed) and when he was eventually captured he basically committed a suicide by telling the Reds how he shot that Jew guy and was executed too. But it's better don't to watch the movie through that kind of glass, it's just a comedy...
F Gwynplaine MacIntyre
I'm not as fluent in Russian as I'd like to be, so a Russian friend suggested that I hone my limited skills by watching this movie: the characters' actions are simple and clear (and the plot is quite funny) even though I had difficulty following the Russian dialogue. I wasn't surprised to learn that 'Wedding in Malinovka' is based on an operetta: the behaviour of the characters in this comedy is certainly operatic. I viewed a print with German subtitles ('Hochzeit In Malinowka'), but I avoided reading them in order to see if I could decipher the Russian dialogue.The film takes place during Russia's civil war between the Reds (Bolsheviks) and the Whites (Mensheviks). Andrejka and Yarinka are a young betrothed couple in the village of Malinovka, caught between the battle lines. Gritsian is the leader of a Menshevik band who are planning to attack the village. Yarinka (played by Valentina Lysenko, quite pretty) appeals to the local Bolshevik commander for his faction's help. The Bolsheviks quickly come up with a plan to save the village ... but the plan requires Yarinka to enter into a pretend marriage with Gritsian. The action climaxes in a drunken wedding feast.There's a lot of singing and dancing here, most of it extraneous to the plot. I was quite surprised that this low-budget musical comedy reminded me of the very high-budget musical drama 'West Side Story'. In the latter film, the rival gangs clash more or less as equals but the audience are encouraged to identify with the Jets as the 'good' gang whilst perceiving the Sharks as foreign interlopers: the 'evil' gang. 'Wedding in Malinovka' was made by the Soviets, so naturally it depicts the Red army as courageous freedom fighters whilst showing the White army as drunken bandits and hooligans who use revolution as a mere pretence for looting and mayhem. From an objective viewpoint, the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks were pretty much moral equivalents ... but the Bolsheviks just happened to win the struggle between factions.I was offended by this film's politics ... but not surprised by them, under the circumstances. The film is well-made on its low budget (though somewhat high by Soviet standards), and I laughed out loud several times. My rating for this one: 7 out of 10.
