Zvenigora

Zvenigora is a 1928 Soviet silent film directed by Alexander Dovzhenko, who also directed Earth, which I watched last year. When I reminded The Younger Son that this director did Earth, he asked if that was the one with the tractor. When I said, "yes," he asked if this was had a tractor. No, sadly, but this one has a tank! and a train! These movies are strange indeed.

via youtube:



The Guardian calls Dovzhenko "the most acclaimed poet of the Russian silent cinema" and says, "Merging fantasy and realism, Zvenigora uses the rambling story of a search for a lost treasure to journey through Ukraine's distant past and revolutionary present." The New Yorker has a positive review. World Cinema Directory calls it "one of the first exemplars of what one might call magical realism in cinema".

Because of its fantasy elements, I'm including it in the Once Upon a Time Challenge Quest on Screen.