Nikita Mikhalkov

the long version

"Birgit Beumers explores Nikita Mikhalkov's films in the light of his development as a filmmaker and of the historical and cultural contexts of the periods in which he has worked - stretching from Khrushchev's Thaw through the Brezhnev stagnation, to glasnost and perestroika into the post-Soviet period. During this long creative career Mikhalkov's nostalgia for the past of pre-Revolutionary Russia has grown steadily while his view of the Soviet times never makes his national pride in his country falter. The book investigates Mikhalkov's use of images to create a vision of a Russian national identity, and the way in which he manipulates history while creating at the same time both scrupulous and striking films. In tracing the director's career, Beumers also traces the path of Russia's cultural and cinematic life in the second half of the twentieth century, and this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in Soviet and Russian cinema and culture."--Jacket.