Ukroshcheniye ognya

First man in space was Russian... This movie depicts step by step evolution of Soviet space program from military rocket system "Katjusha" till first space ship "Vostok". Head character is based on real person Serguei Korolyov, the father of Soviet space program. Nice subject, nice music...

This movie is loosely based on biography of one of the fathers of Soviet cosmonautics - S.P.Korolev. Though definitely the heroic deeds of army of Soviet engineers worth all kind of awards, but this movie leaves me disappointed.

This film is outdated today and looks more like propaganda movie, especially at the end - Lenin, communist party, revolutionary song in at the party in Kremlin.

Name Bashkirtsev is used here not because S.P.Korolev was a top secret engineer, but because some episodes of the movie have nothing to do with S.P.Korolev. Before WWII he was in prison, in GULAG camp, then in sharashka - a secret research center under supervision of NKVD. Anyone interested in real facts of Korolev would read Wikipedia, and would not not watch this movie.

Next is the main idea that is driving Bashkirtsev: flying into space to Mars and to Moon. This movie never says that the main goal of Korolev research center was to create an intercontinental ballistic missile. A space program was just a side project that was used later by Soviet government as another propaganda vehicle. Thsi movie shows as if Bashkirtsev is a lunatic driven by a single idea to launch rockets into space, and military usage of rockets has nothing to do with him or the whole Baikonur launch site. This is again a propaganda cliché.

This film was definitely a pride of the Soviet film industry just a few decades ago. It is still quite an interesting 3-hour movie to watch even today, when masses of viewers are spoiled with crazy special effects. Space wars are shown from the Russian side in this epic film. The director's job is impressive and cinematography too. The film is also interesting because it includes rare black and white documentaries of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, and several shots showing rockets taking off from the Baykonur Kosmodrome in Kazakhstan (at that time it was part of the Soviet Union). Famous Russian actors, such as Lavrov and Smoktunovsky did a good job.

This is a real epic about the developing of rockets and spaceships in the Soviet Union. The character called Andrei Bashkirtsiev is actually Sergei Koroliov, the "father of soviet spaceships". I don't know why they didn't use his real name, maybe some sort of "state secret"?. In this film there is also a scene where another famous scientific appears: Kurchatov the maker of the first soviet atomic bomb. Also the actor that does the role of Yuri Gagarin resembles quite much the real one. Photography here is excellent and also the music. It's a very well done score. I saw this film a couple of times more than 30 years ago and I still remember the scene when they take the big rocket out of the hangar en route to the launching pad. By the way, the dialog between Gagarin and Bashkirtsiev/Koroliov was the real one (as Gagarin told later): Koroliov: What would you think of a flight into space? just a small trip to and fro. Gagarin: It's OK if there's enough fuel. I still remember that phrase when he is shown the first prototypes of jet fighters: "Piervava liubov" ("First love") because he started thinking about building jets but then dedicated himself to rockets. The famous "Katiushas". Among the many historical characters depicted here there is a very important one: Konstatin Tsiolkovsky. He was interpreted by the famous classical Russian actor Innokenti Smoktunovsky.

Ukroshcheniye ognya (1972) is probably among several most important visual documents of the 20th Century Russian\Soviet history. The film was made in dangerous times of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the USA, when the two superpowers were about to destroy each other with nuclear missiles. Deadly Russian missiles and nuclear explosions, and more interesting stuff is superbly shown in this epic film. It isn't important that the leading character is based on Sergei Korolyov, who was the number one rocket scientist in the Soviet Union. More important about this movie is the rare view through the Iron Curtain, an original insight into the Kremlin politics, some intriguing atmosphere of Soviet secrecy and enigmatic ambiance of Russian military science of that era. Lavrov's acting is superb, as he leads a nice ensemble of top Russian stars, such as Smoktunovsky, Kuznetsova, Gerdt and Popov with other actors. Excellent cinematography with two cameras. Powerful depiction of the first military use of missiles during the Nazi invasion of Russia in WWII. Interesting shots of Russian space centers and rare footages from the original flight of Gagarin - the first man in space. This epic is a desirable collector's item.