Historical drama. The film adaptation of the novel of the same name by the Soviet and Russian writer Julian Semenov, and although I have not read the original book source myself and will evaluate the film adaptation as an independent work, Julian Semenov himself acted as a screenwriter here, so I am sure that he conveyed the essence of his work and the most memorable moments correctly. And I decided to finish the marathon of Soviet film intelligence officers of the Great Patriotic War with this series. This is not just a TV series - it is a legend of our cinema and its ageless classics, which the audience has loved for more than one generation. Secretary General Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev himself was touched by this picture, and the audience of the huge Soviet Union hurried home after work to see a new series about the difficult and dangerous work of Soviet intelligence officer Max Otto von Stirlitz (aka Maxim Maksimovich Isaev). I got acquainted with this series myself as a child, and even then I remembered him as the main character, as well as the famous scenes, and of course the music of Mikhail (Mikael) Tariverdieva. After a while, I reviewed it again - and the impressions only intensified, but now, having reviewed it again, and already having a certain level of knowledge, I can safely conclude that this is a great movie, although not without flaws. And here's my brief opinion for you - The difficult work of a Stirlitz scout. In addition to the obvious advantages, there are some flaws in the series that should not be forgotten. And this should be the end of such an important introduction, and get to the point.
So, the obvious advantages:
1. Scenario - the very structure of this series is not quite usual, because for twelve episodes we will be shown and told (in the charismatic voice of the magnificent actor Yefim Kopelyan) mainly only about seventeen days in February and March 1945, for which SS Standartenfuhrer Max Otto von Stirlitz, according to the assignment received from the Center, will have to disrupt separate negotiations of the Hitler elite with the United States and Britain (Operation Sunrise). The whole series is built around this most dangerous operation of Stirlitz. We were shown his work and how he achieves his goal: how he attracts his agents, how he skillfully bypasses his SS competitors, how he maneuvers between the highest ranks of Nazi Germany, who, in view of the approaching collapse, are trying to save their skins, or sell them very expensive. Even about Stirlitz's past, we know almost nothing - and this structure is unusual, risky, but in this case it worked. It was impossible to break away from the series for a second, because in front of the viewer for the entire timekeeping time, they unfolded and showed such a chain of events with such drama and tension that one can only admire it. And the finale makes you applaud standing for a few minutes. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
2. Max Otto von Stirlitz is our main character, introduced by Soviet intelligence to Germany back in the twenties of the last century, who was brilliantly and brilliantly played by the outstanding Soviet and Russian actor Vyacheslav Vasilyevich Tikhonov. Stirlitz himself is a collective image of a Soviet intelligence officer, which includes images of such scouts as Willy Lehman (SS Haupsturmfuhrer, Gestapo officer, recruited in 1929, discovered and shot in 1942), Mikhail Mikhalkov, Hans Welfe (SS Obersturmfuhrer, recruited after the war, was discovered in the early sixties) and so on. Our hero is a deeply and long-time conspiratorial resident, whom only a limited circle of people in Moscow knows (in fact, only his immediate superiors and Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin). He is a professional who has achieved a high and strong position in Germany, specifically in the SS, has the rank of Standartenfuhrer (colonel), a subordinate of Schellenberg (the sixth department of the RSHA - intelligence), he is respected and asked for advice by employees of other departments of the RSHA. The hero is awarded with awards, has his own mansion and a pass that allows him to visit where the rest of the Germans are not allowed to go. And it was to such a person that Soviet intelligence gave the most dangerous task in this spring of 1945 to disrupt the separate negotiations. At the same time, the risk of failure is greater than ever. But here the third one gives way to the game, which we will talk about further.
3. Battle of Wits - in the series we will not be shown fighting (except for the chronicle footage), there will be no shootings and fights either. But there will be dialogues, monologues and battles of minds - and this is the best part of this series, because here the talent of Julian Semenov is revealed with might and main, and it's just interesting to watch all these. Even when watching, I sometimes lost the thread of truth, because Stirlitz had to beat far from the stupidest people of that time: Himmler, Bormann, Kaltenbrunner, Schellenberg, and of course Muller - the Gestapo chief himself. You can fall in love with these verbal duels, they are so worked out and staged, which is a considerable merit of the talented actors of the old Soviet school (which they no longer do). I especially remember the duel between Stirlitz and Muller with the prints on the suitcase of the Russian radio operator. Muller thought that Stirlitz had fallen into a trap, but no! Stirlitz brilliantly got out of it, and even how he got out!
4. Famous scenes - a meeting with his wife before the start of the war, the torture of a newborn baby Kat, a bottle hit by a provocateur from the SS, the suicide of Pleishner, a conversation with a Wehrmacht general on a train, and so on. There are a lot of these scenes, and if you list them all, then the review will turn out in fifteen parts. And the final. This is a real epic! Such intensity of drama, and what emotions, and what an amazing acting game!
5. The heroes of the second plan - radio operator Kat, Pastor Schlagg, Professor Pleishner, Helmut Calder, Frau Saurich, Barbara and so on, they are all interesting characters, and each is worthy of mention, because the characters are interesting, and the images are remembered, and the point of view on certain things allows you to evaluate a whole layer of German society of those years, from fascist fanatics (for example, Barbara), to a fiery anti-fascist (Pastor Schlagg, for example). Julian Semenov has succeeded in both the heroes of the first plan and the heroes of the second plan, and this requires a high level of skill and good erudition.
6. The atmosphere of war - despite the absence of fighting in the frame, the creators managed to recreate the spring of 1945 almost documentarily with the help of the environment, costumes, dialogues, thanks to which the viewer literally plunges into the atmosphere of the last military spring of the Great Patriotic War, and the approaching victory: constant bombing of Berlin, preparation for the defense of the city, air alarms, a lot of marching and wounded soldiers, reflections on the future in high offices and so on. Bravo!
7. Music - Mikhail Tariverdiev wrote immortal music that immortalized not only Stirlitz, director Tatiana Lioznova, but also Tariverdiev himself. It is impossible to imagine this series without his music. This is a brilliant job. Bravo!
So, some flaws:
1. Historical inaccuracies - the characters of historical figures (Muller, Schellenberg, Kaltenbrunner and a number of others) do not correspond to historical ones, this is directly indicated by the memories of their contemporaries, and Julian Semenov himself recognized this. Barbara could not serve in the SS (women were not accepted into this organization), she could be taken to a junior organization created specifically for women (SS retinue, SS auxiliary units), Wolf and Dulles' negotiations took place not in Bern, but in Zurich and Ascona, and the details of Operation Sunrise themselves are very different from the real ones. In a few shots, the Soviet Li-2 is repainted into the German Junkers-52. And finally, Stirlitz could not in reality reach those heights in the hierarchy of the SS, because the selection to this organization was very strict (especially in the thirties and early forties), it was necessary to prove the "purity of blood", relatives both neighbors and not should be Aryans at least since 1750, and so on, there a whole list, and the candidate for SS membership was selected by a commission, and very pedantic (the Germans after all), so the real Maxim Isaev, with all his merits, could not have got into the SS before 1943-1944, when the selection was no longer so strict, and corruption should not be excluded from this situation. These are only the moments that I personally noticed, if I missed something, then I ask for mercy in the comments.
2. Logical miscalculations - despite all the complexity and integrity of the story, there are logical miscalculations in the series that somewhat spoil the overall picture (but not much). For example, Stirlitz's absence from the workplace or on a mission is too long, and no one asks questions about it, Schellenberg, for example, is his immediate superior. These moments are a bit out of the general narrative rut.
Despite such flaws, the series turned out to be a true masterpiece. I think it doesn't make sense to paint the roles and actors - everyone tried, and each one separately. And it was Stirlitz, played by Vyacheslav Tikhonov, who became the most famous example of a scout in Soviet and Russian culture, because jokes, computer games, books by Semenov himself about the hero's service and so on appeared. It was Stirlitz who fell into the soul, not Fedotov from the "Scout's Feat", not Kramer from the Saturn trilogy, not Skorin from Operation Omega (although they are certainly good). And the secret of success is simple.
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