Mashenka

[Sergei]

I just watched Mashenka (Машенька, 1942), a war movie directed by Yu. Raizman for Mosfilm. It must be the only Soviet film about the Winter War, as the war with Germany became a more important subject - but still, for a while Mashenka was good propaganda matter as it was about a victorious (?) defensive (???) war.

To not lose to Hollywood, the movie is actually a romance of a boy, Aleksei, and girl, Masha, who separate before the war but then meet as Aleksei is a front soldier and Masha a medic.

Here's some fun details:

* when Aleksei meets Masha, he makes an impression on the girl by lying that he's already studied Marx, while she only had studied Lenin by then

* there are apparently no trees in Finland; all the fighting took place in steppe and in cities

* Finnish offensive tactic consists of running toward Soviet Maxim's in row, while Soviet do it by crawling under artillery fire to the barbed wire, then wait for the artillery preparation and then storm the enemy positions with the T-26's

* urban fighting (we all know that Soviets took Viipuri by combat, don't we?) is done in the following way: T-26's speed in the streets crashing through buildings, Finnish infantry panics and does the headless chicken dance as the Soviets encircle them, then the fight turns into a big melee as everyone has their bayonets attached, while the T-26's keep running circles around the brawling flock

* Finnish soldiers had both Finnish and German uniforms and no snow camo, while all Red Army soldiers had snow camo

* a real Soviet Patriot like Aleksei doesn't stop fighting, no matter how many Fascist bullets pierce his body

Overall, very well done propaganda and an interesting perspective into the Soviet public perception of 1940's about the Finnish "border conflict".

[Philippe]

Inspiring. Their agitprop has moved my heart.

[Bone_Vulture]

Originally posted by Sergei:

*honk honk*

Shake your booty, girl.. for the People!

[Kingfish]

Come and keep your comrade warm

[Sergei]

"Is that a Bolshevik in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

"Yes, it is my party member."

"A vot, it is Red indeed!"

[Ardem]

I just watched a movie made by the finnish called 'The Winter War', it was an actual based on a infantry regiment.

The Landscape they fought in was a mixture of tree and farmlands, and the finnish were air attacked, tanks came rolling in and wave after wave of silly russians running towards them like 1914 style attack with bayonets fixed.

The Finnish troops had a mixture of weapons, but nothing I would picture as german except they all had the standard german helmet of ww2. Even the SMG they had looked russian in design like the ppsh-43. The clothes they wore were variety as they were never really equipped for war except some troops that had old civil war uniforms. The only thing they all had incommon was their white winter smocks.

Very interesting portyal of the Finnish I always thought they won through superior fighting and guerilla tactics but this movie showed ill equiped troops and ill-trained guys holding on till grim death.

[Sergei]

Actually, the helmet model dates back to German and Austro-Hungarian helmets of WWI.

http://www.pottia.net/pottia/finnhelm.htm

[Bigduke6]

Mashenka is just a case of the victor writing the history, a little before he actually won. A fine piece of work and only a little askance from wartime reality, which of course was necessary to make the celluloid leap.

The only thing that bothers me is that Masha has let down her ear flaps.