The detective series “Liquidation” in 2007 gathered a record number of viewers from the screens. The film by Sergei Ursulyak was perceived controversially by critics. The film reviewers found many minor historical discrepancies in the film. But this did not affect the opinion of the audience. David Gotzman, embodied on the screen by Vladimir Mashkov, for several years was the most popular film character. In his homeland - in Odessa - a monument was erected to him.
About the film
The series shows the events in post-war Odessa. The main character - the head of the UGRO - is fighting with representatives of the criminal world. But his task is not to put small thieves behind bars, but to find a certain Academician - the leader of a large gangster group and a former German intelligence officer.
Hero of the series “Liquidation”
David Gotzman is a character who achieved the popularity of Gleb Zheglov. He is a front-line soldier, intelligence officer, military officer. What is known about the main character of the series “Liquidation”? Gotzman's biography includes many white spots. However, it is known that in his youth he, like most of the native inhabitants of Odessa of those years, was related to the criminal world. But he embarked on a true path thanks to his friend Mark.
Hero Mashkova - head of the department for combating banditry. Gotzman's methods of work are somewhat different from Zheglov’s methods, with which he is so often compared. So, the famous saying of the hero of the film Govorukhin: “A thief should be in prison,” David Gotzman would hardly have said. Indeed, in one of the first episodes, he enters into a dispute with Marshal Zhukov himself, arguing that tough methods to eliminate crime and numerous arrests will not lead to anything good.
David Gotzman is a true friend, a caring father. Moreover, he has no native children. The gotsman adopts Misha Karasev - a minor pocket thief. During one of the conversations with the boy, viewers receive some information about the life of Gotzman: all the relatives and friends of the protagonist died during the war. The head of the UGRO has only two friends. The first is the aforementioned Mark, shell-shocked pilot. The second is Fima, whose tragic death is told in the third series.
The story of the film
In 2004, the director of the studio, in which the series was later shot, it occurred to him to create a film about the events in post-war Odessa. Moreover, one that would resemble "The meeting place cannot be changed." After some time, Alexei Poyarkov began writing the script.
What is the reason for the popularity of the hero Mashkov? David Gotzman is in some ways a unique character. He leads an almost ascetic lifestyle, fights with thieves, but does not shoot at them, but rather negotiates with them. In addition, he is not without romance.
Vladimir Mashkov spent about a year in Odessa. I talked with Odessa police officers and with criminal authorities. He mastered special jargon. And although later, after the series was released, linguists and historians began to look for inconsistencies in the characters' speeches in the real Odessa dialect, ordinary Odessa residents were delighted with the image created by Vladimir Mashkov. The actor began to be associated with the character, despite a number of other roles in big-budget films.
David Gotzman: prototypes
Before the beginning, the directors and actors familiarized themselves with the case of David Courland. He is the prototype of the protagonist. But not the only one. According to the pensioners of the NKVD, who served in Odessa in the forties, the image of Gotzman is collective. He reminds one of Artyom Kuzmenko’s grasp, who put things in order in Odessa before the war and served as Major General. Odessans saw in the hero Mashkov and Victor Pavlov, who became famous thanks to the exposure of the gang, consisting of deserters.
But who is David Courland? After all, this particular person is the main prototype of the Gotzman.
D. Courland
This man was born in Odessa in 1913. In the early twenties, father Kurlanda died. The boy was sent to an orphanage, from where his older brother later took him. Courland participated in the defense of Odessa (1941). During the war he also served in the front-line groups of the NKVD. Criminal investigation began after the war. In 1953, David Courland took the post of head of the first police department. Since 1958, he lectured at a special police school.
David Courland died in 1993. His relatives reacted differently to the film image of Vladimir Mashkov. The son of Courland stated that the Gotzman had nothing to do with his father. The grandson claimed that the actor managed to convey exactly the character of his grandfather.
For the role of David Gotzman, Mashkov received the Golden Duke award and was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Odessa.