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We Have Won After All!

The holiday devoted to the 35th anniversary of screening the film “They Fought for Their Country” and the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory, held on September, 24, in Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya, by the State M.A. Sholokhov Museum-Reserve and the Rostov Regional House of Folk Art, became a real present for all the residents and guests of the stanitsa.

The chapters of Sholokhov’s novel, the film was screened after, the site of the battlefield, a brilliant cast of actors bearing the memory about the war (some of them joined the battles, others keep their childhood remembrance fresh), the talent and intuition of the film director – all these helped the film shooting team to get through the truth trial and make a film of national success, called by the critics almost documentary.

In the spring of 1974 the film shooting team met with Sholokhov. “We have won, so we have a right to speak about the months’ retreat with the bitterness we feel when remembering that time. I would like everything in the film to be painfully truthful,” – the writer said.

After screening the film “They Fought for Their Country” a lot of letters were received from the former soldiers who acknowledged the truthfulness of the events shown. But the first to approve the film was Sholokhov: for him it was “a sign of gratitude” for those living, who are very few now”.

The concert joining the performers and the audience applauding them was not only devoted to the publicly favourite film, but it also became a kind of an anthem for the Victory and its creators.

… On the screen fragments of the film “They Fought for Their Country” are being shown, and Lopakhin, Streltsov, Zvyaghintsev and their comrades-in-arms look as if peering into the faces of those, whose happiness they fought for. At this moment the song “I Haven’t Seen the War”, performed by Serghey Zhilin, is perceived in a special way.

And when there came heard the dear words of the song “So, it means, we need the only victory, one for all, at any cost…”, performed by Elena Nemirova, and “Eh, the Roads…” by Ghennadiy Verkhoglyad, the People’s Actor of Russia, the soloist of the Rostov National Musical Theatre, they were picked up by the whole square.

The songs took turns with military dances. The schoolchildren were marching on the stage decorated with a red Banner of Victory.

The soldiers fought for their native land, their homes, and increased the fame of their free forefathers. In their honour many song and dance groups performed in the concert.

The holiday program devoted to the jubilee of the film, which won the public recognition and merited many awards, became a tribute of love and respect for the defenders of Our Motherland, for the talent of Mikhail Sholokhov and Serghey Bondarchuk, and the labour of the whole film shooting team.

Olga Bakhtiyarova