While Carlo Collodi's acclaimed Pinocchio book has remained a staple of moral literature for decades, Russian writer Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy's adaptation The Golden Key is also a fascinating take on the classic. What started as a reimagined take for Tolstoy's own children became a staple of Russian children's media from 1936 onward, resulting in numerous film adaptations. One of the most cherished is Leonid Nechayev's made for television musical feature, The Adventures of Buratino (Italian for puppet). Regarded as a cult classic during and after the Soviet era, there's a lot to admire in the film for all ages.
The film follows a boy made of wood named Buratino, who meets the children of Karabas Barabas' theatre and sets out to free them. His goal to do just that is to discover a golden key given by the turtle Tortila. It's easy to say that the film is about the morality of being safe and secure as a little wooden boy, and in presenting that, the filmmakers allowed Buratino to shine on screen. Buratino is a dramatically dynamic character getting himself into countless situations, like being swindled by the crooked Alice the Fox and Basilio the Cat and being followed by the malicious Karabas and his loyal friend Duremar. In addition to his heartfelt creator Papa Carlo, Buratino's supporters include the children's theatre commedia dell'arte performers, who keep trying and failing to teach the titular wooden boy about being good in the world. The contrast between good natured and ill intent are quite obvious through the differing characters, yet thanks to the boastful cast, their performances shine through humor, pathos, horror, anger, and lots and lots of happiness.
Much of the entertainment comes from the soundtrack by composer Alexey Rybnikov and songwriters Bulat Okudzhava and Yuri Entin. Known for their previous work in Russian children's films, the songs are often presented more than spoken dialogue throughout the more than 2 hour runtime, allowing for the story to be told in lieu of musical accompaniment. With a strange balance of serious subject matter and energetic surreal metaphors, it's almost as if we as the audience are experiencing a live theater recreation of the original Tolstoy book. The limited choreography is not as important as the songs' messages and presentation of retro Italy, especially through the eyes of people that lived during those times. Next to the songwriting crew, the real star of the picture is child actor turned filmmaker Dmitry Iosifov as Buratino himself, as he brings the character to life with the right amount of spunk and sarcasm needed for a curious lad like that. The mere factor that he went on to voice Pinocchio of all people later in his life shows just how much of an impact he left on the Russian public.
Although it will obviously catch on more to the European public than internationally, there's no denying how much The Adventures of Buratino has lived on as a classic for the ages. Regardless if you're unfamiliar with the original Tolstoy book or even Collodi's work, this is definitely worth a watch for all ages, albeit with subtitles outside of anyone non-fluent in the Russian language. Much like how Tolstoy was inspired by Collodi to turn one work into another, as well as Nechayev, here's to another possible future for like minded creatives to create their work based off of their own childhood favorites.
