I once stumbled upon excerpts from his memoirs, but I didn’t pay them much attention until I saw a book called A Passenger Without a Ticket at a friend’s—a memoir by the director about his life. I got interested, started reading, and quickly got hooked.
I finished the book in a few days, and at the end, there was a note: “To be continued.” I thought that couldn’t be a coincidence, so I searched online and found that Georgiy Daneliya had actually written three memoirs, later combined into a single cycle, initially called Chito-Grito (when it was a two-part series) and later released as a single book titled Nightmare on Tiptoes.
The film was supposed to tell the story of the Decembrist uprising of 1825. It was these people who called themselves the “Union of Salvation,” intending to “save” Russia from autocracy—as they understood it.
The sets and costumes were great, and the actors weren’t bad. But the script was a big letdown. The entire movie was just a flurry of people and events. Characters come and go at lightning speed; you barely read a name before the next one appears. And for viewers unfamiliar with the history, these character names mean absolutely NOTHING.
Because there’s no explanation at all. If you haven’t read the history, the whole film boils down to “some random men want a revolution, bring out the troops, shout a bit, and die.”
There’s no clarity on what exactly they want, no explanation of why or how they want to achieve it. No motivation. No explanation of who these people are. It’s like the audience is expected to read a history textbook first and only then come to watch. Luckily, I remember some details of these events—not just the Soviet version that glorified the Decembrists as the first Russian revolutionaries who died for the people (even though they actually didn’t care much about the people).
Even the fact that the Union split into Northern and Southern Societies is mentioned so briefly it’s instantly forgotten. And this split wasn’t without reason. At some point, their ideas diverged significantly on what they wanted and the methods to get there, leading to the division.
So, I was deeply disappointed by the viewing. It’s beautiful, but disappointing due to poor directing, because even with some historical knowledge, I’d still want more than just visuals.
The soundtrack, though, was very impressive. I even listened to it several times afterward. They seamlessly blended in “Walking on Water” by Nautilus Pompilius (which is basically the film’s main theme) and even “Vladivostok 2000” by Mumiy Troll. The arrangements came out very interesting.
A friend of mine recently decided to enroll in an MBA program. I was curious as to why. From my experience, I’ve noticed that while MBA holders often have solid foundational knowledge, they frequently lose out to those who have acquired these skills independently, especially through hands-on experience.
So, I checked out the course content and its requirements. It states that a certificate of English proficiency is absolutely essential. The thing is, in all my life, I’ve never bothered to get any such certificate. Yes, my English is far from perfect, I know. I work on it continuously, but I never got around to obtaining a certificate. Nonetheless, I work at a large international company and communicate with colleagues and partners in English daily, both verbally and in writing.
