Saturday Night Film

Close Up Shostakovich

I had a very hard time finding the right movie for movie night tonight.

It’s 5 minutes to midnight and probably nobody’s even awake anymore.

I apologize.

But I finally settled on this documentary about Shostakovich, even though I think it has some distortions in it.

(Some criticisms of it can be found in the comments.)

”Shostakovich was an artist with a complex and tragic fate. Persecuted for almost his entire life and almost sharing the fate of Meyerhold, Mandel'shtam, and [the writer Varlam] Shalamov, he courageously endured hounding and persecution for the sake of what was most important in his life: his art. Occasionally, however, during the most complex conditions of political repression, he had to manoeuver. Without this manoeuvering, there would have been no Shostakovich art at all. Many of those who had started with him perished, while many others were brought to their knees. He survived and persevered, endured everything and, in the end, fulfilled his calling. And we can only bow before his fortitude and steadfastness.”

The Dissident, Mark Aranovsky