BURNT BY THE SUN
A film review by Regina M. DuBord
Copyright 1995 Regina M. DuBord
No, no, no, no, no, I am afraid that Steve Rhodes did *not* get it *at all*. While this movie may have its moments of comic relief, it is ultimately a tragic protrayal of one family's post-Russian revolution experiences. In no way does it even attempt to resemble a Monty Python picture.
The problem I had with this film, however, is that it is just too depressing (and unfortunately, it is a true story). Basically, Marussa's true love, Dmitri, was forced to go to war, during which time Marussa attempted to kill herself due to her misery without him. A few years later, however, along came Kotov, an important military commander, who convinced her to marry him. After the war, Kotov pulls rank and arranges to have Dmitri sent away so that he will never come back to claim Marussa. The plot *does* make sense if you actually watch the movie. In the meantime, Dmitri becomes an intelligence agent for his country. When he discovers that Kotov was involved in selling information to the Germans, he returns to Kotov's and Marussa's household to exercise revenge.
It is apparent that Dmitri and Marussa still love each other, but Dmitri still carries out his plan and has Kotov executed. When he sees, however, the havoc that this situation creates for Marussa and her daughter, he ultimately commits suicide himself, apparently in complete confusion over whether he did the right thing.
This movie is difficult to rate, in that who is the "good guy" and who is the "bad guy" is hard to decide. Many of the scenes revolve around Kotov's wonderful relationship with his little daughter and Marussa's general flakiness, making it difficult to assign singular blame for the story's tragic conclusion. However, depending on the sensitivities of the viewer, these elements may be what makes the film interesting.
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