SIBERIADE (3 DVD NTSC)

RUSCICO. 1979, USSR. Mosfilm. Duration: 275 min. Director: Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky. Starring: Nikita Mikhailkov and Lyudmila Gurchenko. English subtitles. Set in the small village of Yelan, which has lain hidden in the Siberian backwoods since time immemorial, "Siberiade" revolves around two families, the Solomins and the Ustyuzhanins, who live in Yelan and have been feuding for as long as anyone can remember. The Solomins have tended to be quite wealthy and the Ustyuzhanins poor, so that when the Russian Revolution comes along, the Solomins refuse to acknowledge it (Siberia was the White Army's centre of operations). Nikolai Ustyuzhanin is a lone warrior against them. However, it will take a new generation of the two families to resolve this conflict, and set all right again. Toward the end of the film, set in the 1960s, Yelan is no longer a remote village, because the area has been found to be full of oil, and this brings in new people and expansion, causing new problems.