Figure 1.-- This is the little boy who is obsessed with war and decided to test out Rocket the turtle's armor by having a tabk run over him. Notice his Red Army style head and Octoberist pin./i>

The movie “Attention, the Turtle!” (“Vnimanie, Cherepaha!”) was made in 1971. In this marvelous movie there is no ideolgy at all. Children and adults are real, alive people. There is not a single word about USSR, party, communism and so on. The movie is basically a school film. It begins with a scene, where a young school teacher goes on Moscow street dressed in a fashionable mini-skirt and bright short raincoat. On some distance she is followed by two small girls (1st or 2nd grade), who’s dresses are also very short. But when the teacher comes to school, she hides and rolls down her skirt, takes off a bright raincoat, then puts on glasses to become a “true” teacher. This would have been and inconceivable scene in a Stalinist era film. Children following her also hide and rolls down their skirts, after that run to their teacher and greet her. This film is very touching. It teaches a love of animals. Even more, it openly rejects some traditional Communist principles. When a teacher says a ritual phrase “There are no indispencable people!” (one of communist ideas, that “one person is nobody, a zero”) a small boy askes her “But who are dispenable people?” and stuns her with this question. More in this movie authors smile about the Soviet obsession with war. Another small boy, the main character's antagonist, is obsessed with war and always paints war pictures. In the plot he steals from a “Corner of live nature” a turtle (who’s name is “Rocket”) and tries to put it under a tank “to check if its shell (armor) is "solid” or not. Another boy, the main character, knowing that Rocket is in danger, runs away from a children hospital where he is being treated. A girl from his class also concerned about rocket helps him by changing clothes with him and replacing him in the hospital. In the climatic scene, he manages to draw the tank commander's attention to Rocket and the tanks turn to avoid Rocket.

Filmography

The movie “Attention, the Turtle!” (“Vnimanie, Cherepaha!”) was made in 1971. In this marvelous movie there is no ideolgy at all. Children and adults are real, alive people. There is not a single word about USSR, party, communism and so on. The movie is basically a school film.

Actors

Plot

The film begins with a scene, where a young school teacher goes on Moscow street dressed in a fashionable mini-skirt and bright short raincoat. On some distance she is followed by two small girls (1st or 2nd grade), who’s dresses are also very short. But when the teacher comes to school, she hides and rolls down her skirt, takes off a bright raincoat, then puts on glasses to become a “true” teacher. This would have been and inconceivable scene in a Stalinist era film. Children following her also hide and rolls down their skirts, after that run to their teacher and greet her. This film is very touching. It teaches a love of animals. Thev main character in particular loves animals and in particulr Rocket the Turtle. The class has a turtle (who’s name is “Rocket”). They keep it in their “Corner of live nature”. Another small boy, the main character's antagonist, is obsessed with war and always paints war pictures. In the plot he steals Rocket and tries to put it under a tank “to check if its shell (armor) is "solid” or not. Another boy, the main character, knowing that Rocket is in danger, runs away from a children hospital where he is being treated. A girl from his class also concerned about rocket helps him by changing clothes with him and replacing him in the hospital. In the climatic scene, he manages to draw the tank commander's attention to Rocket and the tanks turn to avoid poor Rocket.

Costuming

The boys in the school wear what I thought wee grey suits. Apparently they are light-blue suits. A Russian reader tells us, "In the beginning of 1970s there was a light grey-blue school uniform for boys, just as depicted in movie. Later it was replaced by dark-blue school uniform." For some reason the girls do not wear the blue uniform dresses and pinafores we note in Soviet schools. Normally if the boys wear uniforms, so do the girls. Rather they wear a variety of fashionable outfits. The costuming becomes part of the plot. Yoga, the little boy who is the maun charcter, has to dress up as a little girl so he can escape from the hospital where hecis being trrated and save Rocket the Turtle.

Ideology

The film is also interesting because it openly rejects some traditional Communist principles. When a teacher says a ritual phrase “There are no indispencable people!” (one of communist ideas, that “one person is nobody, a zero”) a small boy askes her “But who are dispenable people?” and stuns her with this question. More in this movie authors smile about the Soviet obsession with war.

Created: 8:31 AM 12/8/2008
Last updated: 8:25 AM 12/9/2008