Set in the 1920's shortly after the end of the Russian civil war and released on 1974 during the Brezhnev era, at home Among Strangers, Stranger at Home is an action film that lives up to its genre and also manages to develop a more complex storyline than other action films that just focus their attention towards gruesome fight scenes. The scenes in which fighting did occur were much less graphic but still just as affective on eliciting the same level of excitement that is characteristic of an action film. During these scenes the movie is very reminiscent of American action films which depict western cowboy lifestyle.
The story itself deals with the character Shilov who is accused of treason after a precious shipment gets stolen under his watch and he gets framed for it. From the very start, the films images were particularly striking both cinematically and psychologically. The different settings of this intro which included a countryside (common for this point in time) and a small living area, all captured my attention immediately. The intro alone initiated a large list of questions with its seeming randomness. Such as why are they yelling and dancing? Or Why did they just push that carriage down the hill? What is strategically communicated through this intro despite the lack of dialogues is the character's deep bond with each other and their emerging friendship.
There are many other scenes later on in the movie that may seem random but serve a purpose to further convey these ideas of forged bonds. One such scene is when the train robbers are all jubilant after having stolen the gold. Through the different uses of genius cinematographically placed supporting scenes this film ended up being more than just a plain action movie. The character development was phenomenal and the action scenes ended up being one of its main attributes.
The story itself deals with the character Shilov who is accused of treason after a precious shipment gets stolen under his watch and he gets framed for it. From the very start, the films images were particularly striking both cinematically and psychologically. The different settings of this intro which included a countryside (common for this point in time) and a small living area, all captured my attention immediately. The intro alone initiated a large list of questions with its seeming randomness. Such as why are they yelling and dancing? Or Why did they just push that carriage down the hill? What is strategically communicated through this intro despite the lack of dialogues is the character's deep bond with each other and their emerging friendship.
There are many other scenes later on in the movie that may seem random but serve a purpose to further convey these ideas of forged bonds. One such scene is when the train robbers are all jubilant after having stolen the gold. Through the different uses of genius cinematographically placed supporting scenes this film ended up being more than just a plain action movie. The character development was phenomenal and the action scenes ended up being one of its main attributes.