Burnt by the Sun

is the DVD I watched this evening. I last watched it five years ago, as part of a SSEES course on Soviet cinema. I had avoided re-viewing in this period due to my antipathy towards dear Mr Mikhalkov, or rather to the cloying, overly-romanticised view of pre-Revolutionary Russian society he employs in both this film and "Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano". I found his depiction of life on the periphery of Russia/the Soviet Union, in "Urga" to be utterly fascinating, especially the focus on the two protagonists as representatives of lifestyles/philosophies/empires in terminal decline. Anyway, to return to the point, this film moved me emotionally far more this time than last - partly, I think, because I now know far more about the Purges (in fact, Burnt by the Sun and my favourite film ever, German's "My Friend Ivan Lapshin" both capture the bizarre paranoid claustrophobic atmosphere as the Purges began perfectly). However, and more disconcertingly, I was most taken by the relationship between Kotov and his daughter (or should that be Mikhalkov and his daughter) - especially the scene between them as he dresses before leaving with Mitia. I think this may be due to the onset of middle-age.