Salt for Svanetia / Nail in the Boot ( Jim Shvante / Lursmani cheqmashi )

Salt for Svanetia / Nail in the Boot (DVD) (*)

$35.99

Original Title: Jim Shvante / Lursmani cheqmashi
Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
German ( Subtitles )
Russian ( Dolby Digital Stereo )

Product Origin/Format:
Germany ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
126 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Black & White
Booklet

Movie filmed in 1930 - 1931 and produced in:
Soviet Union ( Russia, Eastern Europe )

Directed By:
Mikhail Kalatozov

Written By:
Sergei Tretyakov
Leonid Perelman

Actors:
Mikhail Kalatozov
Akaki Khorava
Arkadi Khintibidze
Aleqsandre Jaliashvili
Siko Palavandishvili

Synopsis:

The Georgian-born filmmaker Michail Kalatozov (19031973) is best remembered for directing some of the most innovative and successful Soviet films of the 1950s and 1960s. This DVD presents digitally restored versions of two of his lesser-known, early works, which were highly controversial in their time but now rank among the finest achievements in Soviet silent cinema. SALT FOR SVANETIA is an austere depiction of peasant life in the inhospitable terrain of the Caucasus Mountains. NAIL IN THE BOOT, a biting parable of wartime irresponsibility, chillingly prefigures the later Stalinist purge trials. Günter Buchwald's and Stephen Horne's prize-winning scores and the experimental accompaniment by Masha Khotimshi underline the poetic and expressive visual style of these exceptional masterpieces.

Salt for Svanetia (1930)
Kalatozov's first independent directorial effort, Slepaja (The Blind Woman, 1930), was a drama set amongst an isolated and poor mountain community of Svans, an ethnic group, which still lived by ancient, often violent customs. The film was scripted by Sergej Tret'jakov and had all the earmarks of a major Georgian production of its day. However, it remained unreleased possibly because it was regarded as another compromise with commercialism and remains largely a mystery. Parts of Slepaja were adopted in the considerably less conventional ethnographic documentary Dzim Svante (Sol' Svanetii), a film which consolidated Kalatozov's directorial reputation and remains today one of his most critically acclaimed works. In terms of ideology, Dzim Svante was a model example of the agitprop genre, which was being promoted by the emerging Stalinist regime at the time of the film's release. In a direct, poster-like form, the film praised the socialist mastery of nature and the struggle against social backwardness. However, aided by Tret'jakov's poetic journalism, and the talents of co-cinematographer alva Gegelavili as well as art director Davit Kakabadze, an avant-garde artist with an active interest in Georgian cultural traditions, Kalatozov transformed a proto-Socialist-Realist tale into an expression of the classical philosophical notion of 'the dynamic sublime', related both to nature and to human existence. Dzim Svante's diagonal compositions, striking close-ups and dynamic camerawork underline the connection between Kalatozov's directorial style and the art of cinematography (not surprisingly, he served in the dual role as director and cinematographer). In conjunction with a tense editing rhythm, the use of these devices creates an 'attraction'-like ambiance, invoking the early, LEF-promoted theoretical concepts of Sergej Eisenstein.

Nail in the Boot (1931)
Kalatozov's Gvozd' v sapoge, destined to be his last silent film, was another exercise in agitprop directness. However, it was produced at a time when agitprop films were losing popularity among Soviet ideologues and represented a transitional attempt at the uniquely Stalinist genre of the 'defense film'. 'Defense films' reflected the growing national fear of a potential enemy attack and would play a significant role in Soviet cinema during the 1930s. Gvozd' v sapoge's proclamation that negligence should be harshly treated as enemy action rang an ominous tone in the context of the rise of Stalinism. On the other hand, Gvozd' v sapoge continued the radical aesthetic of Dzim Svante and its romantic vision of the sublime - in this case, the sublime of war. The depiction of military manoeuvres seems like a pretext for a kaleidoscopic portrayal of warfare and war technology. Kalatozov's immersion in the kinetic martial imagery is comparable to his fascination with the rituals of the Svans and may have been inspired by Gino Severini's 1915 painting 'Treno blindato in azione' (Armoured Train in Action), an Italian Futurist's paean to the elemental power of war. In spite of its acceptably militarist overtones and belief in Soviet defence capabilities, Gvozd' v sapoge was withdrawn from circulation because of 'dire pacifist mistakes' and 'a false depiction of the Red Army.'

Salt for Svanetia (1930)
Most of Salt for Svanetia describes and explores the daily life of the Svan people, who are living isolated from civilisation in a harsh natural environment in the mountainous region of Svanetia. The film starts with the Lenin quotation 'Even now there are far reaches of the Soviet Union where the patriarchal way of life persists along with remnants of the clan system.' Svanetia and the mountain village of Ushguli are then located on two slowly dissolving maps of the region and are described as 'cut off from civilization by mountains and glaciers'. The location of the village is further introduced by several expository shots showing the Svanetian landscape. The film then concentrates on the daily routine of the villagers. One sequence shows how sheep are raised, and how wool and yarn are produced. Another scene shows a suspension bridge and a man trying to cross it. A harvest during an early snowstorm is shown. Other scenes show how the Svan people tailor their clothes, make hats, cut their hair and bury their dead.

Nail in the Boot (1931)
Banned in the Soviet Union fo rits 'negative' content and never released, Kalatozov was forced to retreat from filmmaking for seven years because of this film. The film sets out to illustrate the old adage, 'For want of a nail, the battle was lost,' showing how the inferior quality of something so trivial as a nail in a soldier's boot leads inexorbly to the capture of an armored train. Kalatozov had intended to demonstrate the crucial and universal importance of efficiency in Soviet industry, but the generals decided that his fable gave a negative impression of the Red Army's capabilities.

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 19 June, 2014.

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