''Rainbow'' (, ), is a 1944 Soviet

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

film directed by

Mark Donskoy Mark Semyonovich Donskoy (21 March 1981) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, and studio administrative head. Biography Mark Donskoy was born in Odessa in a Jewish family. During the Civil War, he served in the Red Army (1921-1923), an ...

and written by

Wanda Wasilewska Wanda Wasilewska (), also known by her Russian name Vanda Lvovna Vasilevskaya () (21 January 1905 – 29 July 1964), was a Polish and Soviet novelist and journalist and a left-wing political activist. She was a socialist who became a devoted com ...

based on her novel, ''Tęcza''. The film depicts life in a German-occupied village in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

from the viewpoint of the terrorized villagers.

Cast

* Elena Tyapkina as Feodosya * Hans Klering as Captain Kurt Werner * Nina Alisova as Pusya * Natalya Uzhviy as Olena Kostyuk * Anna Lisyanskaya as Malyuchikha * Nikolai Bratersky as Petr Gaplik, collaborator mayor * Vitya Vinogradov as Mishka Malyuchik * Anton Dunaysky as ''Grandfather'' Evdokim Okhabko * Vera Ivashova as Olga, ''Pusya's sister'' * Vladimir Chobur as Lt. Kravchenko

Plot

The German conquerors are above nothing, not even the slaughter of small children, to break the spirit of their Soviet captives. Suffering more than most is Olena (Nataliya Uzhviy), a

Soviet partisan Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland in 1941–45 and eastern Finland. The ac ...

who returns to the village to bear her child, only to endure the cruelest of arbitrary tortures at the hands of the Nazis. Eventually, the villagers rise up against their oppressors, but unexpectedly do not wipe them out, electing instead to force the surviving Nazis to stand trial for their atrocities in a postwar "people's court." (It is also implied that those who

collaborated Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. The f ...

with the Germans will be dealt with in the same way).

Reception

"Brilliantly acted by virtually everyone in the cast, ''Rainbow'' is a remarkable achievement, one that deserves to be better known outside of Russia." It has been described as the most powerful and effective of the Soviet propaganda films produced during the war. The film was recommended to President

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

by the American ambassador in Moscow in early 1944. Roosevelt cabled Ambassador

W. Averell Harriman William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891July 26, 1986) was an American politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was a founder of Harriman & Co. which merged with the older Brown Brothers to form the Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. investment ...

in Moscow on March 14, 1944 with the message that he had viewed the film, and found it so "beautifully and dramatically presented that it required little translation." FDR stated that he hoped it could be shown to the American public; it was released in the USA in June, 1944, by Artkino Pictures Inc..

References

External links

* {{Mark Donskoy 1944 films 1944 war films 1940s war drama films 1940s Soviet films 1940s Russian-language films Soviet black-and-white films Soviet war drama films Soviet World War II films 1944 in the Soviet Union Films based on Polish novels Films directed by Mark Donskoy Films set in the Soviet Union Eastern Front of World War II films Russian-language war drama films