News and Articles › Gripping Film Moments
Art teaches us to see into things. Folk art and kitsch allow us to see outward from within things.
— Walter Benjamin, literary critic
Top list
View the entire list
People long for the Life Grip moments in life, just as they long for the most Life Grip moments on-screen.
In my new column on kitschy moments in movies I will focus on the most sentimental and pathetic scenes in cinema history. Did I really say “pathetic”? Yes I did.
The ability to combine motion picture, dialogue, sound, music and storytelling gives film the potential to produce the synthesis of all forms of expressions, which in my opinion makes film the most kitschy of all the arts.
Every time there is elevated music and melodramatic acting, I am drawn into the action.
I cannot help it!
One of the best examples of a coordinated kitsch attack is when Boris gets shot in The Cranes Are Flying.
The Cranes Are Flying is known as one of the great productions of the Cinema of the Soviet Union from the late 1950s.
But despite the recognition there is just a few See-Worthy scenes from the film and Boris’ Death stands out in particular. It was my father that introduced me to this scene several years ago and I can watch it over and over again.
In short, Boris has been drafted into WWII leaving behind his lover, Veronica, who cheats on him with his brother.
At midpoint in the movie, or the point of no return as I like to call it, the most tragic thing imaginable happens:
While helping a wounded soldier, Boris gets shot!
As he is about to fall dead to the ground his future wedding flashes before his eyes and oh my are there some transitional effects of beauty in this scene. The drapery from Veronica’s wedding dress works like a veil of illusion keeping Boris on a dreamy distance.
The guests are cheering and Veronica radiates happiness.
But the scream like choir and echoes of his comrade desperately calling for help gives the whole scene an unnerving feeling.
In the end, Boris receives the Judas kiss from his brother, and he leaves this world, ignorant about his adulterous fiancée.
The mixed emotions of happiness and despair is the greatness of this scene and makes it so much more compelling than it would have been in a state of plain sorrow.
Boris’ Death can stand on its own two feet. You do not have to watch the whole movie to enjoy it, and that is much of the point with this column.
The best movie scenes are independent and gripping scenes that can be understood by anyone because they tell of archetypical moments.
Published on Saturday, October 15th, 2016
This scene also delivers a wonderful “contra adfectus”. The celebration, dancing and drinking, the hope of what could have been – together with the death. Simultaneously, the wedding is a horror, very superficial compared to the private love he has for Veronika. The brother of Boris gives him the Judas kiss in the same scene – the kiss of betrayal.
I agree this is an amazingly powerful scene, but also a flawlessly crafted one. The director takes huge risks of falling into overdone melodrama, but somehow manages to dance past those risks. The scene is never just a vehicle for sentimental schlock, despite all the strings and the fact that its premise could (perhaps!) have appeared in any cheap tearjerker. The skillful editing and photography help make it a lasting picture of the personal losses and waste of the second world war.
Another point which I think adds to its power: in all of the rest of the movie, Boris and his girlfriend (who won’t even know that he is dead until years later) only represent themselves, two young individual people. In this one scene, Boris merges with all of those who didn’t come back, he suddenly becomes much of the Unknown Soldier. And this makes it stand out in an unstated relief effect from the rest of the film, like when a piece of music that’s all in minor suddenly modulates into a nostalgic major key for a few moments.