Anna Netrebko via Instagram
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am i actually the only one shipping them??
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Russia/Ukraine 🇷🇺/🇺🇦 Viy Вий (1967) dir. Yershov & Kropachyov/
story by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1835). Who was a Russian novelist, short story writer and playwright of Ukrainian origin.
☦️The protagonist, a young man, has been under the authorities from the beginning. It is especially represented by the church and the older Cossack men. Unruly students are warned of the path of sin, but they hardly care. The witch lets three of them into her house, but separates them. At night, this mathriarc, Baba Yaga harnesses one of them for a flight (which is a common Sabbath belief, not always flown with a broom or cow).
The figure of the Rusalka is also mixed with the Slavic witch, water spirit a nymph. After her death she becomes another folk believe, a Klikushi who often disrupted village life, especially at religious ceremonials.🪆
🛐We return to the beginning of the film. People’s own bad behavior finds the “guilty” often from outside of the self, rather than taking responsibility for it. The young man must atone for his sins. The nocturnal church scenes are reminiscent of humorous folk tales where one has had to go to church at night to pray, to be saved from the devils.
The film is difficult to interpret because it draws from so many cultural sources. In its 🇮🇹 version, Bava’s “Black Sunday”, is easier to see through the “return of the repressed" theme. After Mario Bava developed a four-page outline faithfully based on Gogol's story, several other screenwriters, both credited and uncredited, worked on the script.
Repressed desires or feared temptations here? The obvious themes are of course regret and revenge.
The witch who attempts to ride her would-be husband is echoed in Ukrainian but also a Russian folktale. Gogol has stated that the Viy means “Little Russians” and the viy has come to be considered a product of Gogol's own imagination rather than Russian or Ukrainian folklore. He was a master of comedy, so I would not take the question of origin too seriously.
Great book & film⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌔 Suitable listening: Dvořák - the "Song to the Moon" Anna Netrebko version🙂
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Giselle with Alina Cojocaru and the United Ukrainian Ballet: unforgettable moments
Matthew Paluch reviews Giselle with Alina Cojocaru, Alexandr Trusch, Vladyslava Kovalenko and the United Ukrainian Ballet.
32 – Alina Cojocaru, Alexandr Trusch, London Coliseum, photo by Mark Senior
I begin this review with the statutory mission of the foundation of the United Ukrainian Ballet:
supporting the displaced dancers in their livelihoodupholding ballet and dance as an important part of Ukrainian culturekeeping the current conflict top-of-mind with worldwide audiences
“The United Ukrainian Ballet…
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