Only this spring, the Russian audience saw the adventure drama “Territory” announced by Alexander Melnik back in 2013. 2015 is rich in premieres, but this one is special. It is supported at the highest level and glorifies the generation, at the cost of their health, and sometimes lives, rebuilt the post-war state of the USSR.
Idea of ​​creating a picture
The past can be treated differently, but the fact that ordinary people rebuilt the country from ruins is undeniable. Each profession is necessary and important, but the profession of a geologist is noticeable only on a national scale. Unconquered harsh Chukotka and today stores places where no human foot has stepped.
Alexander Melnik’s film “Territory”, reviews of which were only enthusiastic, tells precisely about these people - nameless heroes who died hundreds in the harsh conditions of the far North, but who fulfilled their tasks and sometimes challenged orders stubbornly looking for the facts of their innocence.
The idea of ​​creating a film based on the novel by Oleg Kuvaev, based on real events, came up with Alexander Melnik back in 2009, but the director understood that considerable financial investments were needed for filming in such conditions. In search of financing, the author threw a cry among investors, and there were those who were not indifferent. The administration of Chukotka greatly helped. The funds were helped by gold mining and oil companies. Enterprises that could not bestow a ruble made their contribution by technology - they provided aircraft, helicopters, and trucks.
Minister of Natural Resources Sergey Donskoy spoke about the painting to the President of Russia. Vladimir Putin assisted in the filming of the picture. In the credits, gratitude is indicated to almost the entire top leadership of Russia. This is not surprising, because the budget of the film is considerable - the director spent $ 14 million to make a high-quality, high-quality film that makes one proud of one’s ancestors, not sit idly by, but act. The 2015 Territory film contains very strong motivation. According to the leadership of the country, he is able to show the beauty and significance of this region and work in such conditions for the general public good.
Director and crew
The director of the picture is Alexander Melnik. This is the second widescreen film in the career of Alexander. The first is New Earth, 2008. Initially, they wanted to shoot the picture in Iceland, landscapes came up, but the director decided the film "Territory", whose actors are mostly eminent stars, to shoot only in Russia. And on New Year's Day he brought the main backbone of the painting to Chukotka. Why? Yes, because this is real dramaturgy, pavilion shooting or substitution will immediately be felt by the audience. The Chukotka region is covered with a harsh romantic halo, and in order to shoot about the exploration of the North by geologists, you need to visit here and feel the beauty and danger of these places.
If the director can be called a novice, then the operator in the film is more than eminent - Igor Grinyakin, on his account such films as "Admiral", "Vysotsky. Thank you for being alive!"
Make-up artist - Englishwoman Lizzy Lawsonseiss, who worked with Robert Patinson, Daniel Craig and a mass of Hollywood celebrities. After visiting Chukotka, she remained in love with Russia and is now writing a book about these places and people.
Another person without whom the picture would be inferior is the composer of the drama Territory. The soundtracks for the film and the main melody throughout the whole action are selected so harmoniously that even without looking at the screen, you get the feeling that you are looking at the endless snow, waterfalls and mountain ranges of the North. Tuomas Kantelinen could only convey this whole boundless world with melodious sounds only.
And of course, to create the necessary emotional background, several songs in the style of bard ballads were used. Musya Totibadze - a young, promising performer - sang "Ballad of the White Bear", which became the main musical theme of the painting "Territory". Soundtracks for the film reveal his inner world. The compositions sounded in the film reflected the spirit of that era. There were seven of them, not counting “Ballads ...”, “You are my breath”, “Calm, comrade, calm”, “Song of anxious youth”, “Song of Ben”, “Lullaby with four rains”, “ Autumn Leaves ”,“ Who but a fool ”.
Plot
The plot of the film "Territory", the reviews of which are only positive, is based on the history of geologists developing gold deposits in Chukotka.
Gold is vital for the post-war Union, but the Territory provides only tin deposits. Top management decides to scale up the expedition and close the project. Chinkov Ilya Nikolaevich, nicknamed Buddha, goes against his immediate superiors and decides to find gold deposits in one field season. To accomplish this task, Chinkov attracts young geologists who are dedicated and ready to go all the way and sacrifice a lot for their beliefs.
The film "Territory": actors and roles
The 2015 film masterpiece about the hard labor of geologists gathered a great cast. Without a doubt, 70% of the success of the film is due to the acting.
Chinkov Ilya Nikolaevich - chief engineer, “soul” and head of the Territory. This role of a stern, fair and devoted person was embodied on the screen by Konstantin Lavronenko, the owner of the Golden Bear of the Cannes Film Festival for the best male role.
Grigory Dobrygin played the geologist Sergei Baklakov.
Egor Beroev reincarnated as an engineer Vladimir Mongolov.
Evgeny Tsyganov played the penultimate adventurer and geologist-philosopher Andrei Gurin.
The female roles were expertly embodied on the screens by Olga Krasko, Ksenia Kutepova and Tamara Obutova.
Such a brilliant cast assembled the film "Territory". The actors received positive reviews from the audience and film critics for their dedicated game. Perhaps one of the actors will be nominated for a film award. Time will tell.
Interesting facts from the shoot
The film "Territory", the actors and roles of which earned a storm of applause after the premiere, became the main event in the cinema environment in the spring of 2015. The main characters themselves and the director during the pre-screenings told about some moments of the shooting.
The film was shot in Chukotka in Providence Bay, in the pavilions of Moscow and on the Putorana plateau. The actors lived for 1.5 months in the harsh temperature conditions of the Far North.
Almost all the actors performed all the dangerous stunts on their own, jumped into cold water, walked along the passes and snow-covered valleys.
Filming took almost two years.
Many residents of the village took part in the crowd, even the Mayor of Providence Vladimir Bychkov starred.
Premiere
In February 2015, the long-awaited premiere of the film "Territory" took place in the Kremlin. The picture received extremely positive feedback at the stage of the preliminary display. Among the first spectators in the cinema were the Minister of Emergencies, Vladimir Puchkov, Arctic explorer Artur Chilingarov, State Duma Chairman Alexander Zhukov. The pre-show gathered the whole color of the Moscow film party - Svetlana Khodchenkova, Anna Chipovskaya, Anna Gorshkova, Maria Andreeva and many others.
Another preview was held at the Cosmos Theater on April 5, 2015, on the Day of the Geologist.
"Territory" is the first Russian-made film in 4K format.
The film "Territory": viewers reviews
It is not surprising that such a resonant premiere aroused genuine interest among the public. The Russian audience is the best critic for such dramatic complex works. Our people immediately feel the falsity or understatement of the plot.
A rare film in the current millennium is able to make the Russian audience sit in the cinema until the end of the credits, and Territory did it. The film excites a person so much that pride for the country, for grandfathers, fathers and mothers rolls in a wave.
Thanks to such an emotional aftertaste, the film "Territory" received only favorable reviews. According to the responses in social networks, and this is one of the most reliable rating systems today, the picture of Alexander Melnik had a high percentage of expectation and views in the first week of impressions. It’s too early to talk about box office, because drama is still broadcast in some cinemas in the country.
After seeing the picture, many viewers expressed a desire to review it again. The epithets that they used after watching to characterize the film are beautiful, honest, real, restrained. Despite the fact that the drama really turned out to be “masculine”, it caused a lot of positive emotions and gratitude to many people who built a happy, post-war life and did not cowardly “live by the dream”.
Reviews of film critics
Surprisingly, the film "Territory" is that unique case when the opinion of the audience unconditionally coincided with the ratings of film critics. Although the picture has not yet begun its triumphal procession at festivals, many "filmmakers" already predict a decent future for her on this path.
Kazan geologist Denis Andreev posted a post review on his blog after viewing Territory. Geologists, and there were 208 of them at the premiere, were touched by such a real and worthy film that practically “word for word” repeated replicas from the “source”.
The newspaper "Murmansk Bulletin" called the film a powerful picture, which is difficult to talk about. This is a film about real people and a real feat.
The newspaper Trud called the film a picture that will for a long time excite the thoughts of those who care.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta described the picture as an opportunity for every person to plunge into the happiest moments of their past and think about the future.
The newspaper "Nizhny Novgorod Pravda" called the film "a spectacle" and "the return of real Russian cinema."
In 2015, Russian filmmakers presented many premieres to the audience, one of which was the film Territory. Reviews about the picture are not surprised by their identity. All of them are positive, this is not surprising, because the film was shot about people and for people.