5/5 Russian Soul captured on film?
  by Igor Lurye (USA)
I like this movie for many reasons. I will list just a few most obvious ones.

1) Soundtrack by Edward Artemyev. Has been keeping me emotionally charged since the first time I heard it (1986?)

2) Depiction of Nature and people as part of it. The first part of the movie magnificently shows an interplay of Nature, and its inhabitants in the deapths of Siberia.

3) Actors involed. A whole plead of actors that were and since have grown to be the monoliths of Russian (Soviet and post-) art such as Nikita Mikhalkov (at his best), Ljudmila Gurchenko (same), Solomin, Andreichenko and a few more whose names I don't remember right now.


5/5 exquisite, catchy
  by C. Andriciuc
A breathtaking story written with humor, love and class. It keeps you alert and interested all over the four hours of action. Successfully blends private stories into a more general context. A Russian and more sensitive Forest Gump.

5/5 wow
  by a reader (Gloucester MA USA)
If only 9 reviews is an indication of how many get to see this film it is a real shame and roll over dr shivago if that's all people think of in terms of a russian epic.Initially a slow start but the film keep rolling and getting bigger and deeper the more it went on.Mind-blowing,moving-Its really great and you got to see it...

5/5 Oh, to be exiled to this Siberia!
  by Kelly L. Norman (Plymouth, MI United States)
Once one gets past the required Marxist dialectic ("rich people bad, poor people good"), there is nothing less than splendid about this Soviet film. The cinematography alone is breathtaking, and the irony of the more adventuresome characters' constant refrain, "They can't exile you any further than Siberia!" is not lost.

The "underdog" family in the film produces men in each generation who shake their fist at their village, rhetorically, and try to get away, but they are always pulled back somehow. As the revolutionary Nikolai says to his young son Alexei, "It's not a good place, but it's the best place for us."

The acting is first rate. Grief, loss, hope, and faith are equally represented throughout the film. Most of the actors are more low-key than in Hollywood films (a fact that allows the Siberian woodlands and scenes of village life, as well as stock film of national events, to play out much of the story). But they do not lack passion. Especially touching is a scene of a youngster grieving for his father. The young actor gives a performance beyond his years.

The recurrent themes and beautiful scenery and music (folk during the rural scenes, electronic during the sped-up, sepia- tinted stock footage) make the six hours of film very easy to digest. Konchalovsky's Siberiade suggests a cinematic Tchaikovsky symphony, with its alternating poignant romance, pathos, and an ending of hopefulness.

5/5 One of the last great Russian historical dramas.
  by Vlad (russianwriter.net)
Category: Historical drama
Director: Andrei Konchalovsky ("My Name is Ivan" '63, "Tango and Cash" '89, "The Inner Circle" '91,
"The Odyssey" '97, "House of Fools" '03)
Year: 1979
Running time: 206 min (2 tapes)
Rating: R (violence, sexual content)
Grade: A
Starring: Vitaly Solomin, Sergei Shakurov, Nikita Mikhalkov, Ludmila Gurchenko
Winner of 1979 Cannes Film Festival (Special Jury Prize)
My point: One of the last great Russian historical dramas

Over 6 decades of the history of the great Russian land and the country USSR through the lives of two families in a small Siberian village. Two opposite families: Ustuganins, the pure ones; and Solomins, the rich ones. The story of life, love, betrayal, happiness and pain.
This film is very long and very slow. Cinematography is excellent, but it doesn't bother you... it is only helping you to get into the story and the beauty of the Russian land.
If you love good films, if you are interested in history and Russia? A must se.
"Vlad"