the landowners’ homes are filled with an entirely different sort of company. The heir denounces the commissar Andrii, his own servant’s son, sending him to his death. Anton closing up the house, doors and windows locked, setting the house on fire. The landowners have brought this revenge on themselves, despising the trustworthy servant, sealing their doom. The conflict can be summarized by stating that the While Guard perished because it failed to appreciate the worth of those who stood by it in the fight against Bolshevism. Indefatigable Bolshevism. For every one sacrificed to the cause, another comes up in his place.
The fire scene is masterfully filmed and edited. Zamychkovsky delivers his role with similar skill and emotional authenticity. The film was highly regarded by critics. World journal, 1928: “The film is an extraordinarily alive depiction of events in Ukraine. The acting was so intense, so non-theatrical, that we were forced to remind ourselves more than once that we weren’t watching a newsreel, but a feature film.”
Amvrosii Buchma gives us a comparable victim with his strikingly natural portrayal of the sober-minded hostler, a common worker, Hordii Yaroshuk, who taxis folks about the city after dark in Heorhii Tasyn’s The Night Coachman. He is devoted to the family idyll, nothing able to darken the joy he receives from life with his daughter.
After discovering an insurgent in his attic, and all the while trying to protect his daughter, Hordii discovers that his daughter too was actively preparing Bolshevik leaflets and posters. He then hands his insurgent guest over to the head of White Guard counter-espionage, and this results in the arrest of his daughter as well. The White Guard, evidence in hand, quickly puts the girl to death; her father himself driving her coach to the place of her execution. Unable to bear his guilt, Hordii swears to avenge his child against those responsible for her death. In the end, it is he who is punished for violating natural law: for betrayal, for wishing evil upon those who did not share his convictions.
Just as in Two Days, the Revolution has played havoc with the life of a common man, leading him into sin, and its consequent penalty.
In both films the work of the supporting characters is far less psychologically convincing than that of the leads. Ultimately, the filmmakers, tasked with demonstrating in their day how the inert commoner was dragged into the revolution, remind us all, in our own, of the tragic consequences of class hatred, and no less of Bolshevism.
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