Sonata for Hitler Soviet Elegy Maria

The last night of our Sokurov series features three shorts that reveal what director calls "the tragic pattern of Soviet socialist life."

The two dates for Sonata for Hitler reflect the fact that it was banned for 10 years. The video uses German and Soviet footage to make an unspoken comparison between fascism and the tyranny of life under Stalin. (1979/89; 10 mins.)

A highly unconventional portrait of Boris Yeltsin before he was President of Russia, Soviet Elegy places him within what Sokurov calls "the tragic pattern of Soviet socialist life." A sequence of photos of Russian leaders ends with Yeltsin, who is later pictured in his very humble office and in moments of deep, troubled silence at home. (1989; 40 mins.)

Maria is a moving requiem for a Russian peasant woman whose way of life is destined to die out along with the rest of her generation. Another parable of Russia's troubled history, the first section of the film is in color, and presents an idyllic picture of Maria's pastoral life in the fields; the second section, shot in black and white years later, traces the circumstances that led up to her death and darker days for other workers like her. (1978Ò88; 37 mins.)