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Commissar

 Commissar
type
TVTItem
 Commissar
label
Commissar
 Commissar
page
Commissar
 Commissar
comment
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_3'); })Commissar (Комиссар) is a 1967 film from the Soviet Union, directed by Alexander Askoldov.The film is set sometime circa 1919 or 1920 during the Russian Civil War between Lenin's new Communist regime and the anti-communist Whites. Klavdia Vavilova is a tough-as-nails commissar with a cavalry unit. Unfortunately she is also pregnant, thanks to a passionate fling with another cavalryman who has since been killed in action. After her unit moves into a Ukranian town, Klavdia is boarded with the Magazanniks, a Jewish family, while she carries her baby to term. Husband Yefim is none too pleased by being forced to take in a guest, but wife Maria takes to Klavdia right away, and Yefim is eventually won over. Klavdia bonds with her hosts and starts to act more like a stereotypical mother—but an advance by the Whites threatens this picture of domesticity.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_2'); })By the time this film was produced the "Khrushchev Thaw" that had produced a flowering of Soviet film (Ballad of a Soldier, The Cranes Are Flying, Ivan's Childhood) was pretty much over. (Nikita Khrushchev himself had been deposed in 1964.) Director Askoldov was expelled from the Communist Party and kicked out of the movie business; Commissar is the only film he ever directed. The film itself was shelved by Soviet censors and wasn't released until 1988, during the glasnost thaw of Mikhail Gorbachev.
 Commissar
fetched
2019-12-20T10:09:44Z
 Commissar
parsed
2020-06-24T02:20:31Z
 Commissar
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Commissar / int_1bbb76bc
type
Abandoned Area
 Commissar / int_1bbb76bc
comment
Abandoned Area: The ghostly town that Klavdia's unit rolls into in the opening scene. It turns out everyone was hiding.
 Commissar / int_1bbb76bc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Commissar / int_1bbb76bc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Commissar
hasFeature
Commissar / int_1bbb76bc
 Commissar / int_21d70919
type
Crapsack World
 Commissar / int_21d70919
comment
Crapsack World: It wasn't good to be caught in the crossfire during the Russian Civil War, and it was worse when you were Jewish. One disturbing scene has the Magazannik sons playing pogrom with their more gentle older sister.
 Commissar / int_21d70919
featureApplicability
1.0
 Commissar / int_21d70919
featureConfidence
1.0
 Commissar
hasFeature
Commissar / int_21d70919
 Commissar / int_24ae6005
type
The Political Officer
 Commissar / int_24ae6005
comment
The Political Officer: Surprised? This is Klavdia's job. But unlike some negative stereotypes of the commissar, Klavdia fights on the front line with the men.
 Commissar / int_24ae6005
featureApplicability
1.0
 Commissar / int_24ae6005
featureConfidence
1.0
 Commissar
hasFeature
Commissar / int_24ae6005
 Commissar / int_46c1dc8e
type
Someone to Remember Him By
 Commissar / int_46c1dc8e
comment
Someone to Remember Him By: Klavdia is impregnated by a fellow cavalryman who was killed in combat shortly thereafter.
 Commissar / int_46c1dc8e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Commissar / int_46c1dc8e
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1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_46c1dc8e
 Commissar / int_47060811
type
Screaming Birth
 Commissar / int_47060811
comment
Screaming Birth: Between screaming, and telling Maria to stop torturing her, Klavdia loses consciousness a couple of times and has dreamy flashbacks to how she got pregnant in the first place.
 Commissar / int_47060811
featureApplicability
1.0
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1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_47060811
 Commissar / int_615fdb1f
type
Dream Sequence
 Commissar / int_615fdb1f
comment
Dream Sequence: A surreal, impressionistic dream when Klavdia is going through labor shows her romance with a bespectacled fellow cavalryman, since killed in action, which resulted in the baby.
 Commissar / int_615fdb1f
featureApplicability
1.0
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1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_615fdb1f
 Commissar / int_7febc23b
type
Establishing Character Moment
 Commissar / int_7febc23b
comment
Establishing Character Moment: Ten minutes into the film, Klavdia is having a Red Army deserter shot. This establishes her toughness, before the film takes a turn with her pregnancy.
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featureApplicability
1.0
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1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_7febc23b
 Commissar / int_81a1960f
type
Silence Is Golden
 Commissar / int_81a1960f
comment
Silence Is Golden: Fully seven minutes elapse before the first line of dialogue. Together with the Abandoned Area town, the ominous setting is well established.
 Commissar / int_81a1960f
featureApplicability
1.0
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1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_81a1960f
 Commissar / int_8387bb18
type
Good Girls Avoid Abortion
 Commissar / int_8387bb18
comment
Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Averted. Klavdia explains to her commanding officer that by the time she tried to get an abortion, after three straight months of campaigning, the doctor told her it was too late.
 Commissar / int_8387bb18
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-1.0
 Commissar / int_8387bb18
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1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_8387bb18
 Commissar / int_93d99453
type
The "The" Title Confusion
 Commissar / int_93d99453
comment
The "The" Title Confusion: Some English-language sources call this film "The Commissar".
 Commissar / int_93d99453
featureApplicability
1.0
 Commissar / int_93d99453
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1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_93d99453
 Commissar / int_93deab19
type
Ominous Fog
 Commissar / int_93deab19
comment
Ominous Fog: The Gray Rain of Depression is followed by a similarly depressing fog that rolls into town as battle approaches.
 Commissar / int_93deab19
featureApplicability
1.0
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1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_93deab19
 Commissar / int_a8982539
type
Gray Rain of Depression
 Commissar / int_a8982539
comment
Gray Rain of Depression: The rain falling as the townspeople hide in fear of the Whites.
 Commissar / int_a8982539
featureApplicability
1.0
 Commissar / int_a8982539
featureConfidence
1.0
 Commissar
hasFeature
Commissar / int_a8982539
 Commissar / int_ad7a381d
type
P.O.V. Cam
 Commissar / int_ad7a381d
comment
P.O.V. Cam: The camera whips back and forth as Maria slaps Klavdia back into consciousness during her labor.
 Commissar / int_ad7a381d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Commissar / int_ad7a381d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Commissar
hasFeature
Commissar / int_ad7a381d
 Commissar / int_b5c562be
type
Face Framed in Shadow
 Commissar / int_b5c562be
comment
Face Framed in Shadow: Happens a lot in the scene where Klavdia and her temporary family have to hide in a poorly lit cellar as the Whites approach.
 Commissar / int_b5c562be
featureApplicability
1.0
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1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_b5c562be
 Commissar / int_bc3b029b
type
Impairment Shot
 Commissar / int_bc3b029b
comment
Impairment Shot: The camera goes blurry when Klavdia passes out from the pain during birth.
 Commissar / int_bc3b029b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Commissar / int_bc3b029b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_bc3b029b
 Commissar / int_c4286511
type
For Doom the Bell Tolls
 Commissar / int_c4286511
comment
For Doom the Bell Tolls: The film ends with shots of Klavdia and her unit advancing to meet a contingent of Whites that seem to outnumber them by quite a bit. There's a freeze frame, and a doom-laden bell tolls.
 Commissar / int_c4286511
featureApplicability
1.0
 Commissar / int_c4286511
featureConfidence
1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_c4286511
 Commissar / int_d028ca10
type
Deliberately Monochrome
 Commissar / int_d028ca10
comment
Deliberately Monochrome: Shot in black-and-white in 1967. Fits the somber mood.
 Commissar / int_d028ca10
featureApplicability
1.0
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1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_d028ca10
 Commissar / int_e3c36782
type
Call-Forward
 Commissar / int_e3c36782
comment
Call-Forward: A terrifying one. As Yefim is dancing in the cellar to try and calm his children as the rumble of battle comes closer, Klavdia has a vision of the Magazanniks, wearing the Jewish star, being led into a Nazi concentration camp.
 Commissar / int_e3c36782
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1.0
 Commissar / int_e3c36782
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 Commissar
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Commissar / int_e3c36782
 Commissar / int_f0fe7e80
type
But Now I Must Go
 Commissar / int_f0fe7e80
comment
But Now I Must Go: Klavdia, seeing her unit marching through town to face the Whites, makes the snap decision to join them. In a particularly moving scene, she nurses her baby one last time and whispers some endearments, then leaves him for the Magazanniks and hustles off to battle.
 Commissar / int_f0fe7e80
featureApplicability
1.0
 Commissar / int_f0fe7e80
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1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_f0fe7e80
 Commissar / int_f42f96fa
type
Would Hit a Girl
 Commissar / int_f42f96fa
comment
Would Hit a Girl: Maria's increasing nervousness as the Whites approach leads to a similarly jumpy Yefim slapping her. He is immediately contrite.
 Commissar / int_f42f96fa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Commissar / int_f42f96fa
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 Commissar
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Commissar / int_f42f96fa
 Commissar / int_f4f3252e
type
Law of Inverse Fertility
 Commissar / int_f4f3252e
comment
Law of Inverse Fertility: Klavdia, a soldier on horseback during wartime, certainly didn't want to get pregnant.
 Commissar / int_f4f3252e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Commissar / int_f4f3252e
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1.0
 Commissar
hasFeature
Commissar / int_f4f3252e
 Commissar / int_name
type
ItemName
 Commissar / int_name
comment
 Commissar / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 Commissar / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 Commissar
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Commissar / int_name
 Commissar / int_name
itemName
Commissar

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Commissar
hasFeature
Call-Forward / int_87becb4
 Commissar
hasFeature
For Doom the Bell Tolls / int_87becb4
 Commissar
hasFeature
Screaming Birth / int_87becb4
 Commissar
hasFeature
The Political Officer / int_87becb4