Ideological Flaws in She Defends the Motherland

G. F. Aleksandrov, Report on the Film "She Defends the Motherland". May 11, 1943

Translated by James von Geldern

This memo from the Party's Agitprop director finds ideological flaws even in the film that came to emblemize the Soviet people's commitment to total war. What is interesting here is that most of Aleksandrov's criticisms were ignored, and the scenes that he identifies as “implausible” and flawed were some of the most memorable in the film that was quickly released to the public. Two of them, the wedding and Pasha's speech, are featured in the Video section of this essay.

Original Source: RGASPI, f. 17. op. 125. d. 213. ll. 12-13.

Date: May 11, 1943

From: Supervisor of Propaganda and Agitation CC, CPSU(b) G.F. Alexandrov

To: Secretary CC CPSU (b) A. A. Andreev

Re: Report on the Film She Defends the Motherland

About the movie She Defends the Motherland

(Screenwriters I. Bondin, M. Bleiman, Director F. Ermler, starring actress Maretskii, Alma-Ata Studio)

The film tells about the struggle of Soviet partisans against the German invaders. The husband of young collective farmer Praskovia Ivanovna is killed on the Soviet-German front, and the German invaders murder her child before her eyesr. Praskovia Ivanovna becomes the head of a guerrilla unit. Under her leadership, the guerrillas fight against the occupiers. Praskovia Ivanovna is captured by the Germans. She is sentenced to be hanged. Before she can be executed, guerrillas attack the Germans and release their commander.

The filmmakers made it their goal to create a heroic image of the Soviet partisan-revenger. They were able to show the Soviet people hating the German invaders with all their soul. However, the film has a number of scenes depicting the partisan movement in a simplistic and one-sided manner.

The film's main heroine Praskovia Ivanovna, a progressive Soviet woman in the authors' conception, is shown throughout the film to be a heartbroken mother who has lost a child and husband. The viewer feels pity and compassion rather than the idea of her as a conscientious soldier who defends freedom and the independence of the motherland. The film's director did not show quite convincingly why Praskovia became head of the guerrilla unit.

In the film, some scenes are not plausible. For example, two young people flirting during an important diversionary operation; a wedding in the forest headquarters of the partisan detachment, Praskovia Ivanovna's rhetorical monologue in connection with the false news of the capture of Moscow, the prop-like stage for Praskovia Ivanovna's execution, and several other scenes. German are portrayed as a bunch of simpletons which the guerrillas can easily smash, armed with clubs and sticks. The film does not portray the harsh conditions of the partisans' struggle against the Germans.

Implausible and even false seems the scene in the barn when Praskovia allows several women to be shot without revealing herself, as well as the scene of peasants paying taxes to the Germans.

Some of the reported deficiencies can be corrected, others cannot be remedied. In general, the film will be useful. The picture is appropriate for release.

G. Aleksandrov

Source: Kino na voine: dokumenty i svidetel'stva, Moscow, Materik, 2008), p. 352.