Ivan Kononenko-Kozelskiy

Based on the novel by Mikhail Stelmakh “A Big Family”. The second film of the trilogy (“Human Blood is Not a Water”, “Dmitro Goritsvit”, “People Don’t Know Everything”) tells about one of the first collective farms of Ukraine, the fight against the kulaks and the love of the communist Dmitro Goritsvit for Marta, the Petliurist's daughter, who guilty of the death of Dmitro's father.

The film’s content makes no concessions to the usual expectations of Soviet audiences of the 1930s. The cast of characters is extremely unlikely in almost every conventional respect. The action involves the household of the prominent Dr. Stepanov and his young wife, Masha, who share their large and richly adorned mansion with the parasitical Fedor Tsitronov, whose presence in the household is given only the most implausible of explanations. Equally implausible is the acquaintance of the family with the young and proud Grisha Fokin, whose leadership role in the Young Communist League is never clearly defined and who is never seen engaged in any work or professional activity.

6.7/10