Vladimir Vyssotskii – the movie

A couple of months ago we put up a post of one of the greatest modern Russian poets and singers Vladimir Vyssotskii. There we looked at five of his songs/poems that define his main topics – friendship, war and living on the edge.

And here are the news – Columbia and the Russian Pervyi Kanal are putting out a movie (premiers November 1) about Vyssotskii’s concert in Central Asia in the late 1970s. The movie tells about his trouble with law, drugs, alcohol, and lovers – the seedier part of his life that fed his songs and his myth. Nikita Vyssotskii, the son, wrote the screenplay and did the voice of his father. The movie Vyssotskii (as much as can be judged from the trailers) is an almost exact copy of the real person. Every other face in the movie is that of a famous Russian actor, too. Understandably, many people are skeptical about replicating the legend and eager to see the “most secret film of the post-Soviet Russia.”

We’ll learn after November 1.

Vladimir Vysotskii

Vladimir Vysotskii was a cult singer/songwriter/actor for his age and for many modern Russians. Singing loyalty to friends, love for women and tales of “little people” (patients in an asylum, adolescents, prisoners) he became widely popular in self-made unofficial recordings from his concerts.

Three movies to watch with Vyssotskii

1. Место встречи изменить нельзя (Meeting place cannot be changed) Режиссер: Станислав Говорухин, Одесская киностудия, 1979.

2. Вертикаль Режиссер: Станислав Говорухин, Одесская киностудия, 1967.

3. Сказ про то, как царь Петр арапа женил. Режиссер: Александр Митта, Мосфильм, 1976.

Even though most people remember Vyssotskii’s songs that came out on the official discs during his life – “Песня о друге”, “Кони привередливые”, “Скалолазка”, “Высота”, “Утренняя гимнастика” – my personal list for listening, reading and committing to memory would be a bit different.

1.

Здесь вам не равнина (песня звучит в фильме “Вертикаль”)

 Здесь вам не равнина, здесь климат иной -
 Идут лавины одна за одной.
 И здесь за камнепадом ревет камнепад, -
 И можно свернуть, обрыв обогнуть, -
 Но мы выбираем трудный путь,
 Опасный, как военная тропа!.