Search - Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Special Edition) (1964) (Sub) on DVD

Erroneous description of this classic film

GR | Riverhead, NY USA | 01/27/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Special Edition) (1964) (Sub)
The information about this classic film posted by Amazon contains important errors of fact.
First of all, the film is NOT in Russian, but in UKRAINIAN.
Note to Amazon: PLEASE CORRECT THE LANGUAGE CLASSIFICATION!
Second: The story is not about "Russian regional history" as the writeup states. The Carpathian Mountains are nowhere near Russia. Its Hutsul people speak Ukrainian and are among the least russified in all of the former Soviet Union.
Third: What brought director Parajanov into conflict with communist authorities was not his prtrayal of harsh relities of Soviet life, but his stubborn insistence on filming his adaptation of Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky's 1911 Ukrainian-language novel in the authentic Ukrainian language of the region, and refusing to dub it into Russian.
These errors of fact mislead Amazon customers and tend to perpetuate the myth that all of the Soviet Union was Russia."

Beautiful film, bad information

Dr. Luba | Detroit, MI USA | 01/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've seen this film several times, and find it powerful, beautiful moving and confusing, all at the same time. It must be experienced to be appreciated fully.

As the previous reviewer noted, the information provided by amazon is woefully inaccurate and riddled with errors. More of it is wrong than is right. The film is set in the medieval Carpathians (NOT during the 19th century). It is in Ukrainian. And it has nothing to do with "harsh realities of Russian regional history"--the Carpathian region was not a part of the Russian empire until AFTER WWII, and it neither is nor ever was ethnically Russian.

If you want accurate information about his film, I suggest you try imdb or Wikipedia instead."

A brilliant folk tale of a tragic love - in Ukraine!

Zoltan B. | Berkeley, CA United States | 06/03/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This classic cult film by the late, brilliant director Sergey Paradjanov is still playing on the American and European college campuses or in art cinemas - from Berkeley to Boston, usually (and curiously) bundled with another cult classic, the "Eraserhead". It's about old traditions, mysticism, sorcery, and the inescapable fate, among the Ukrainians of the Carpathian mountains, in western Ukraine, known as the Hutsuls. Beautiful scenery of the Carpathians, native Ukrainian-Hutsul costumes, magical, traditional weddings and funerals all in the Ukrainian language, spoken in the region to this day. Film was released during the brief thaw under Krushschev, in an otherwise oppressive and murderous era of the old Soviet Union. The earlier comments about the film, erroneously refer to the film as being "about old Russia". The film has nothing whatsoever to do with old Russia."

I throughly enjoyed this movie.

Dr. Luba | 12/14/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This movie has every thing; a great story, action, mysticism, romance, and beautiful imagery. This is also good movie for anyone who is interested in Ukrainian and Hutsula culture. The movie is also a documentry. Everyone in the movie, besides the main characters, are actual Hutsuls going about their daily lives. One thing to note, the story does not take place in medieval Ukraine, but in the 1960's (you will notice corn throughout the movie). This is a good movie for all ages, enjoy!!"