Anka-machine-gunner - the character of the film "Chapaev"

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In our country in the era of communism, probably, there would not be a person who at least once in his life did not watch the cult film "Chapaev". The film was shot by the Vasiliev brothers based on the work of the same name by Furmanov. The Soviet audience was especially fond of Anka the machine gunner, despite the fact that the character was fictional.

At the same time, it is known who was the real prototype of this brave and brave heroine.

Evgenia Chapaeva, the great-granddaughter of the well-known division chief Chapaev, declares that Furmanov's wife, who was also a consultant for the film, was a candidate for the prototype of Anka the machine gunner. However, in fact, a completely different woman became the prototype of the legendary heroine of the film "Chapaev".

During the period when Anka the machine-gunner was born in the director's thoughts as a character, the authors of the film accidentally learned about the existence of one nurse, whose name was Maria Andreevna Popova. During a fierce battle, she managed to crawl close to a wounded soldier, who ordered her to fire a machine gun. Sanitary, closingeyes, carried out shooting, and the downed fighter controlled the barrel of the weapon with one hand. This episode was included in the film, and Anka the machine gunner became a model of female heroism and selflessness. The author of the work personally insisted that the character of the film be called Anna. And so Anka the machine gunner appeared. After some time, a lawsuit even arose between Furmanov's wife and Maria Popova for the right to be the prototype of the legendary heroine. As a result, the Soviet nomenklatura admitted that the nurse was right.

A film about Chapaev "asked" to be made personally by Joseph Stalin.

The “leader of the peoples” did not like the first version of the film script about Chapaev. He said that the female heroine must necessarily take part in the film. It was after this that the Vasiliev brothers were forced to redo the script and begin an active search for such a woman.

A film about the heroes of the Civil War was released on the screens of the country in 1934. The role of Anka the machine gunner was played by actress Varvara Sergeevna Myasnikova. The success was simply amazing, and, despite the fact that the machine-gunner heroine is a fictional character in the film, the Soviet audience perceived the main characters as real, and all the events taking place in the film seemed genuine to him. People rushed to the cinemas to relive the bright events of the Civil War again and again with the heroes.

Subsequently, Anka became famous as the heroine of jokes, which people liked to compose very much. However, the characters of the shorthumorous stories was not only Anka, but also quite real personalities - the division commander Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev and his good-natured assistant Petka. In addition, Anka the machine gunner in the film was Petka's lover.

The film "Chapaev" won many Soviet and foreign cinematographic awards, including the bronze medal of the Venice Film Festival, the first prize "Silver Cup" of the Moscow International Film Festival and the Grand Prix of the Paris World Exhibition.