"You have no right to have any doubts!" says the factory's Communiust Party secretary at one point. Elsewhere he says "There are times when scientific objectivity is politically wrong." As well as Shostakovich's music -and the interaction of music and sound- factory whistles, the noises as a turbine builds up to top speed, the sound of machinery; it'd be interesting to know how composer, directories and sound technicians worked together- it's an interesting film because it has to reflect those viewpoints and at the same time try to be or seem truthful. Thus, the CP secretary is a Latin-seducer type, bullying and wheedling people to do what he wants but- for all his power- so ignorant he cannot get an engineer a slide-rule when asked; the engineer is willing to dismiss workers with essential skills for petty offences; the worker may be skilled and dedicated but he is a drunk who measures by guess and god and gets it wrong. There may be a sabotage plot, but considering the things that go wrong without sabotage- misjudgement of measurement by the drunk, a forge collapsing- it doesn't work and- ironically- it is revealed by a man the saboteur has been teaching. The alleged saboteur is taken away by the K.G.B. but his colleagues petition successfully to have him released and the turbine works perfectly bringing respect to the face of the sceptical English expert who is to assess it and all ends happily with two more characters joining the C.P. We never see the sequel when they are in the Gulag, of course.
Review of Shame
