Letter Never Sent (Neotpravlennoye pismo) (1959)
Release Date: Jan 1, 1959 Wide
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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 182
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Movie Info
A group of Russian geologists hunting for diamonds in Siberia becomes trapped by a forest fire.
Jan 1, 1959 Wide
Criterion Collection
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All Critics (4) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (0) | DVD (2)
Classic socialist realism film that is enhanced by erotic melodramatics and powerful stylish nature images.
Elaborate, gliding tracking shots provide a sense of mastery over nature that the characters can't achieve
elevates the familiar into something both emotionally engaging and existentially disarming
Cinematic virtuoso Mikhail Kalatozov's slightly deranged great-great-uncle to everything from The Blair Witch Project to Rescue Dawn gets a no-frills but flawless high-definition release from the Criterion Collection.
What is remarkable is how quickly it can whip from being a realistic survival story to an impressionistic one, sometimes within the same minute. The cinematography is also shifting POV constantly.
Audience Reviews for Letter Never Sent (Neotpravlennoye pismo)
Super Reviewer
In America, the above plot could well have been about greed. In the Soviet Union, all four characters are devoted to serving the State(The movie is dedicated to all such explorers.) which is noble, I guess, but personal safety should always be a consideration. And a bigger factor than nationality should be the earth and the care it requires. I say that knowing the environmental movement does not happen until at least ten years after this movie was made, but some thought should have been given to the natural beauty that could be ruined by any diamond mining.
(Originally reviewed in the blog section on January 28, 2008.)
Super Reviewer
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Foreign Titles
- Neotpravlennoye pismo (ES)
