Lisa Brichkina ("The dawns here are quiet"): characterization, description, actress

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

Published in 1969 in the journal Yunost, Boris Vasiliev's story "The Dawns Here Are Quiet…" aroused great reader interest and desire to raise the topic of "women in war" on stage and in cinema. The fates of the five female anti-aircraft gunners, each of whom has something to protect, evoked a lively response in the hearts of people, and after the adaptation of the story in 1972 by Stanislav Rostotsky, the three main characters of one film, including Liza Brichkina, already in 2013, the Russians included in the TOP-10 the best female images of Russian cinematography in films about the war. Why did viewers love this look so much?

Authors of the story

Boris Vasiliev, who passed away three years ago, was himself a participant in the Great Patriotic War, who voluntarily went to the front at the age of 17. He is the author of a number of works that raise the theme of an ordinary person who is unsuitable for military operations, but in conditions of total war, finds innerresources to resist the enemy in the name of the Motherland: “I was not on the lists”, “Tomorrow there was a war”, “The dawns here are quiet…”. Readers empathize with the heroes and hope that they will be able to overcome the trials and stay alive.

The Taganka Theater was the first, in 1971, to stage a play about anti-aircraft gunners. But at the same time, another participant in the war in memory of the nurse who saved his life, Stanislav Rostotsky, conceived the production of a feature film, the script for which was written in collaboration with Vasiliev. In 1973, the film will be nominated for an Oscar in the category of foreign films, and the creative team will receive the State Prize. Zhenya Komelkova, Rita Osyanina and Liza Brichkina will become characters associated with the names of the actresses who played them for many years.

Storyline

In the deep rear on the territory of Karelia in 1942, there were two platoons of anti-aircraft gunners, where Fedot Vaskov, a participant in the Finnish war, served as the commandant of the patrol. In order to avoid the decomposition of the personnel, quickly getting used to the life of a quiet garrison, female volunteers are sent to foreman Vaskov. Among them is a village young lady from the Bryansk region (according to the film - from the Vologda region), whose life was spent on the forest cordon - Liza Brichkina. “The Dawns Here Are Quiet…” is a story about how the measured life of the garrison is disrupted by the discovery of two Germans in the forest, and a small detachment of five fighters is sent to intercept the alleged saboteurs, whose target may be the railway.

Among them is our heroine, since it is necessary to go throughforest, lakes and swamps, which is familiar to her in life. Being in an ambush, the detachment discovers a catastrophic mistake that cost all the girls their lives: they find themselves face to face not against two, but against sixteen well-armed and trained fascist saboteurs. In an unequal battle, they die one after another. Everything is different, sometimes without showing any heroism.

But throughout the film, the audience sympathizes and worries about the girls, who should have a completely different fate. This terrible war forces them to take up arms, and it is useless to expect from every valor and heroism. Liza Brichkina, sent for help, is so sincere and direct in her willingness to help that it is impossible to condemn her for her ridiculous death in the swamp, which made it impossible for reinforcements to arrive. The enemy did not pass. The surviving Vaskov, who has experienced many losses in his life, does the impossible, capturing enemies.

Characteristic of Liza Brichkina

Much in the character of the girl comes from childhood and her difficult fate: her father is a forester, who instilled knowledge and love for nature; a seriously ill mother, whom the girl used to take care of from the age of five, accustomed to patience and humility in life; the lack of full-fledged communication on the lost cordon, which made her shy and shy. Accustomed from childhood to hard village work, she also managed the animals, and all the housework was on her, and she managed to help her father bypassing his squares. Her whole life consisted in the fact that she cleaned, scraped, ran for bread in the general store, fed her mother with a spoon and … believed in tomorrowday.

Lisa Brichkina was lively and energetic, not shying away from difficulties and not allowing herself to cry. After the death of his mother in the spring of 1941, his father began to drink in the dark, but the girl only locked the door from his own friends and continued to wait for a brighter tomorrow. The hunter who appeared at the cordon, in her opinion, should have been the one who would open the door for her to this tomorrow. Ready to give herself to a night guest, she came across a person who understood her condition: “You shouldn’t do stupid things even out of boredom. You need to study, Lisa. He promised to arrange a smart and intelligent girl in a technical school in the city, with a hostel. Yes, the war prevented this. Involved in defense work by digging trenches, she stuck to the women's anti-aircraft unit, falling into the garrison to Vaskov.

Unexperienced in her 19 years of love, the girl immediately falls in love with the foreman. The anti-aircraft gunners who started to make fun of this soon realize how deep and sincere this feeling is, demanding nothing in return, that they begin to perceive it with respect. And Lisa from each praise of the foreman is such a joy in her heart that she accepted the order to run for help with great readiness. Yes, she was in such a hurry, forgetting about the precautions, that she remained forever in the swampy swamp. Seeing the blue sky in front of her, already dying, she reached out to him and still believed in salvation and a happy tomorrow.

Description of Liza Brichkina and choice of actress

The author describes the appearance of the girl taking into account the physical activity that she performed: she was so he althy that you can plow on her. dense,stocky, it is not clear where it is wider: in the hips or shoulders. Face, respectively, blood with milk, braid to the waist. Only in wartime did it have to be cut off. And the warmth from the girl was drawn, as if from the stove. Vaskov cited her as an example to all anti-aircraft gunners, "there is something nice to see." With all one constitution, but "everything is with it."

Choosing actresses for the main roles, Stanislav Rostotsky was looking for young unfamiliar faces. There was a casting for the film and a third-year student Elena Drapeko, ruddy, snub-nosed, but obviously not in the weight category as the author described. When, after reading the script, she was asked about who she would like to play, she answered: Osyanin or Komelkov. But they invited her to another role - not as heroic as she wanted. For Rostotsky, the characterization of Lisa Brichkina had to match her appearance. He expected to see a village girl, noisy, fighting. And after the first days of shooting, it became clear that Drapeko could not cope with such a character, and she was removed from the role.

The actress Nina Menshikova, Rostotsky's wife, saved the situation. After watching the footage, she told her husband that the purity and light emanating from the girl would really beautify the picture, making people hate the war even more. Elena Drapeko was freckled, her eyebrows brightened and she was “relocated” to the Vologda region, adding a characteristic “okane” to give a rustic charm.

Film shooting

In this reading, the image of the girl touched the viewer so much, linking together the actress and the role, that all further creative activity of Elena Drapeko remainedin her shadow. Not having overcome such a high bar, the actress went headlong into politics, being currently a deputy of the State Duma. She fondly recalls the filming process, which allowed her to play the most stellar role in her life. Filming was carried out from spring to late autumn for 18 hours a day. A lot of time was spent communicating with real participants in the Great Patriotic War and watching thousands of meters of film chronicling the war.

All scenes were played in a situation close to reality. And she had to drown in the swamp for real, conveying with her eyes the horror that Liza Brichkina experienced, a person absolutely unprepared for this terrible war.

The heroine from the 2015 movie

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Victory over the Nazis, director Renat Davletyarov decided to make a new film based on the novel by Boris Vasilyev, using a more modern film language. The creative team faced a difficult task: not to turn the picture into a simple remake, bringing it closer to the source. For the new generation, not familiar with the 1972 film, I wanted to convey the whole drama of inconsistency - a woman and war. When choosing actors, the director was interested in finding those who were not familiar with the first version of the picture. So in 2015, a new Liza Brichkina appeared. The actress who played this role made her debut in big cinema. Sofya Lebedeva is a graduate of the Moscow Art Theater School, where she studied on the course of I. Zolotovitsky.

The authors of the script "transferred" her heroine to Siberia, telling about the heavy share of the dispossessedpeasants. This reinforces the impression of the film, in which the image of a girl is created, despite the difficulties of life associated with the socialist system, who has no other destiny than to stand up for her Motherland.