2 hours 17 minutes the movie is. The message is obvious to reveal a tip of iceberg of dark history in Soviet Union. It's extremely long even the sex scene last for 15 minutes and the party for all the blah for another 15 minutes. Indeed, the whole story can summarized in 5 sentences.
7 Reviews
the heavy burden of history
dromasca12 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
'DAU. Natasha', directed by Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel, is part of 'DAU ', a project of great ambitions and dimensions, which due to the methods used by the production already provokes heated discussions and controversies. 'DAU' started from the biography of a Russian scientist and the history of a Soviet research institute, and developed into a multimedia and multidisciplinary project for which the producers brought together a number of actors, many non-professionals, for more than two years in the conditions of a 'reality show' that reconstructs the oppressive atmosphere of the Stalinist period. 'DAU. Natasha' is one of the two films offered to the public so far in this project, and can be judged without problems as a stand-alone film. That's what I'm going to do. It is the story of a modest woman in charge of the research institute canteen who is forcibly recruited as a KGB informant. A film of a cruel realism, beautifully acted, and which does not avoid shocking.
Natasha (Natalia Berezhnaya) is about 40 years old, Olga (Olga Shkabarnya) is between 20 and 30 years old, and the two women run the canteen of the research institute led by Professor Blinov (Alexei Blinov). The coincidence of names between the characters and the actors is probably not accidental, because the whole cast in this production seems to be made up of unprofessional actors or beginners. The canteen (well stocked for the communist period) is a micro-cosmos of those who work in the institute whose scientific profile is obscure. We only know that some experiments are being performed on people, soldiers, maybe related to radiation, with the participation of a French scientist (Luc Bigé). The two women do not get along very well with each other, both are lonely, victims of the permanent harassment of the male superiors. Lives are gray, hopeless and dominated by fear. After a party with a lot of drink occasioned by the 'success' of an experiment, Natasha has a one-night stand with Luc. It is not long before the investigator Azhippo (Vladimir Azhippo) appears, blackmails and subjects Natasha to interrogation and torture to force her to become a KGB collaborator. The resistance of the lonely woman is impossible and hopeless.
'DAU. Natasha' is a shocking testimony of the breaking of human dignity in the conditions of dictatorship. It is also a film about loneliness, about human solidarity and its fragility, about the Stockholm syndrome (sympathy between the victim and the torturer). The realization is extremely realistic, well thought out and absolutely credible from a historical and psychological point of view. The film lasts over two hours, although it is not composed of more than about eight scenes, but their length is stylistically justified in the tradition of Russian cinema and psychologically in the feeling of slow and heavy flow of time and of the lives of the characters. The actors do not play the roles but live them, and here, of course, the method used by directors and producers has an influence. I am convinced that this film and the whole 'DAU' project will be discussed a lot in the future.
Natasha (Natalia Berezhnaya) is about 40 years old, Olga (Olga Shkabarnya) is between 20 and 30 years old, and the two women run the canteen of the research institute led by Professor Blinov (Alexei Blinov). The coincidence of names between the characters and the actors is probably not accidental, because the whole cast in this production seems to be made up of unprofessional actors or beginners. The canteen (well stocked for the communist period) is a micro-cosmos of those who work in the institute whose scientific profile is obscure. We only know that some experiments are being performed on people, soldiers, maybe related to radiation, with the participation of a French scientist (Luc Bigé). The two women do not get along very well with each other, both are lonely, victims of the permanent harassment of the male superiors. Lives are gray, hopeless and dominated by fear. After a party with a lot of drink occasioned by the 'success' of an experiment, Natasha has a one-night stand with Luc. It is not long before the investigator Azhippo (Vladimir Azhippo) appears, blackmails and subjects Natasha to interrogation and torture to force her to become a KGB collaborator. The resistance of the lonely woman is impossible and hopeless.
'DAU. Natasha' is a shocking testimony of the breaking of human dignity in the conditions of dictatorship. It is also a film about loneliness, about human solidarity and its fragility, about the Stockholm syndrome (sympathy between the victim and the torturer). The realization is extremely realistic, well thought out and absolutely credible from a historical and psychological point of view. The film lasts over two hours, although it is not composed of more than about eight scenes, but their length is stylistically justified in the tradition of Russian cinema and psychologically in the feeling of slow and heavy flow of time and of the lives of the characters. The actors do not play the roles but live them, and here, of course, the method used by directors and producers has an influence. I am convinced that this film and the whole 'DAU' project will be discussed a lot in the future.
tiresome
celco-749161 May 2020
The acting is amateurish at best, the dialogues shallow and barely interesting, the scenes way too long, the "expirement" redicilous. the shaky camera in combination with subtitles makes it even more unbareable. I didn't even care about the "torture" scene, I just wanted it to be over out of boredom.
I skipped through many scenes, maybe that's why I missed the point. But I doubt there was any.
This amateurish botch winning a major prize is presumably some sign of desparation.
I skipped through many scenes, maybe that's why I missed the point. But I doubt there was any.
This amateurish botch winning a major prize is presumably some sign of desparation.
Soviet reality hitting to the bone
denis-2379127 February 2020
This movie holds the spectator in a firm grip...tension is violent, sexual, humorous (at times unpurposely) and humiliating, even disturbing too, adding to its realistic power. The spectator is thrown into a world that is both dark and light, and the protagonist takes us on an emotional roller coaster that leaves us with a number of (psychological) questions.
Notorious!!!
sxtsdm19 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
All the natural reactions bursted from actors are extremely exploited by director, to write the "Soviet" experiences into audiences' mind therefore we could never possibly forget!!! That bottle not only raped Natasha but also us. I admit the movie is evil to some extent but it is destined to be a masterpiece!!!
Good and different movie
alioglub29 November 2020
It is a good movie
isotilia31 October 2020
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