Soviet: Story of One Crime (1962, Fyodor Khitruk)

Story of One Crime (1962)

Soviet Union, 20 min

Directed by: Fyodor Khitruk

Written by: Mikhail Volpin (screenplay)

Starring: Zinoviy Gerd (voice)

Fyodor Khitruk is best-known for directing the Soviet Vinni-Pukh ("Winnie the Pooh") films, but his debut Story of One Crime (1962) presents a far less utopian world than that created by A.A. Milne. When Vasily Vasilievitch Mamim, a mild-mannered accountant, attacks two women with a frying pan one morning, he is surrounded by a mob of angry onlookers, and a policeman arriving on the scene decides to set the clock back twenty-four hours to see what could possibly have turned this previously-contented man into a dangerous lunatic. The culprit is revealed to be a single sleepless night, thrust upon poor Vasily by a succession of inconsiderate neighbours in his high-rise apartment building: one man plays his stereo at full-blast, another holds a boisterous party at some ridiculous time of night, two love-struck lovers communicate loudly through the pipes at 3 o'clock in the morning.

In a nutshell, Story of One Crime is about the selfishness of modern society. Despite treating everybody else he meets with complete consideration – offering his train seat to an older gentleman, for example – Vasily is continually inconvenienced by neighbours who are too thoughtlessly insensitive to care about his own needs. The animation style is simple but effective. Khitruk uses split-screens like the panels in a picture-book, in a manner similar to that employed by Norshteyn in The Fox and the Hare (1973). The characters are all drawn as basic caricatures, who bark like jazz instruments when they argue with each other. Khitruck continued this theme of society's selfishness, more successfully in my view, in his film Island (1973), in which the main character is stranded on a tiny island and consistently ignored by every passing vessel. A simple message, but an entertaining film.

7/10

Soviet: Ostrov / Island (1973, Fyodor Khitruk)

Island (1973)

Soviet Union, 10 min

Directed by: Fyodor Khitruk

Written by: Fyodor Khitruk

Starring: Elena Chepoy (voice)

I only recognised Fyodor Khitruk as the director of the Soviet Winnie-the-Pooh films, beginning with Vinni-Pukh (1969), but here is another of his pleasant animated films. Winner of the Grand Prize for Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival, Ostrov / Island (1973) is a genial critique on the selfishness of modern society. Animated in a minimalist fashion that recalls a simple newspaper comic-strip, this ten-minute film uses the allegory of a person stranded on a minute desert island to explore the reluctance of others to lend a helping hand if it doesn't benefit themselves. This apparently suggests the moral degradation of society as a whole, symbolised by a floating newspaper than only features news of warfare, gory horror movies, half-dressed women and gunfire. As the main character patiently awaits his rescue, dozens of passersby either ignore his waving hand or exploit his unfortunate predicament for their own gain.

Ostrov takes a simple scenario and uses it to make an obvious point, but it does so in a pleasant manner – without hardly a hint of bitterness nor malice towards the society it is condemning; rather, it exhibits something closer to quiet disapproval. Produced at Soyuzmultfilm studio, the film seems like a political work, but not one specifically relevant towards the Soviet Union. Indeed, any Western country could be accused of the injustices featured in the film. While waiting on his island, the main character is interrogated by Interpol officers, conquered by an imperialist ship, loses his lone palm tree to greedy loggers, is consoled by a missionary who promptly abandons him, is thoroughly examined by impartial scientists, and harassed by journalists. He is eventually rescued, in a genuinely bittersweet ending, by somebody whose situation is just as hopeless as his own, suggesting that basic human goodness does still exist, however discretely.

7/10