Figure 1.--Here Sasha witnessing another boy about his own age (7 or 8 years old) being bullied by an older boy in the Moskow streets. The boy who is bullied has been dishevelled by his ordeal. He wears light blue or grey bib-shorts, over a light-colored shirt, but one of the suspender straps has become undone, and his shirt tail hangs out.

This is a lovely little film made during the Soviet era. It is about a little 7 year old boy named Sasha. He is studying the violin and has trouble with bullies. He dresses like a British boy with short pants, kneesocks, and "T" strap sandals. Unlike British boys in the 1970s, Sasha wears patterned shorts and kneesocks. Most other boys wear long pant, but some wear shorts. Another violin student wears a large white collar and short pants with long stockings. A little boy being bullied hat Sasha helps wears shorts and long stockings as well. There was a short scene before his violin class when Sasha makes friends with a little girl tht has a huge hair bow. Sasha makes friends with a steam roller driver. His cultured mother disapproves when Sasha comes home with his hands all greassy.

Filmology

This charming bitter-sweet Russian film was directed by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky. "The Steamroller and Violin" was made when the director was only 28, one of his earlier ilms. It was his thesis or diploma film submitted when he was still a student at the Soviet State Film School in Moskow. He later went on to become the Soviet Union's most important and well-known film director. "The Steamroller and the Violin" was lost for many years and only recently rediscovered. It has been restored and is now available on DVD complete with an informative biography of Tarkovsky.

Cast

The 7-year old violin student Sasha is played by Igor Fomchenko. Sergei, the driver of a steam roller, is played by Vladimir Zamansky.

Plot

The film is about a 7/8-year old violin student Sasha who meets Sergei, the driver of a steam roller. The action takes place in Moskow in 1960, the year the film was made. The child and the adult become fast friends briefly even though they come from different social classes and represent symbolically the artist and the blue-collar worker in Soviet society.

Figure 2.-- Throughout the film, Sasha wears patterned short pants and knee socks with sandals. Sometimes he wears a blue pullover sweater. Here we see Sasha playing the violin at his music lesson.

Clothing

The film contains some very accurate details about boy's clothing in 1960 Moscow. Tarkovsky probably didn't do very much about the costuming of this film. He simply filmed what the boys of Moskow were actually wearing at the time the film was being shot.

Shasa

Sasha appears in different outfits and thgere are other boiys depicted in the film. Throughout the film, Sasha wears short pants and patterned knee socks with sandals. Sometimes he wears a blue pullover sweater. Here we see Sasha playing the violin at his music lesson (figure 1).

Other violin student

Another violin student a little younger than Shasa wears a dark gray velveteen or corduroy one-piece short pants suit with the white collars and cuffs. I have never seen a ne-piece suit of this kind with white collars and cuffs, and I think the style deserves to be recorded. It appears to be belted also. This boy can be viewed by clicking on figure 2. This boy seems to be rather formally dressed and probably from a rather genteel or upper-class family in a theoretically classless society. There were Soviets that descended from middle class families before the Revolution. These familes we suspect would be most likely to dress their children like this.

Other boys

Sasha whelps another boy about his own age (7 or 8) being bullied by an older boy in the Moskow streets (figure 2). The boy who is bullied has been dishevelled by his ordeal. He wears light blue or grey bib-shorts, over a light-colored shirt, but one of the suspender straps has become undone, and his shirt tail hangs out. He wears long brown stockings, but one of his stockings has come loose from the clasp his hose supporter and has fallen down around his ankle. Sasha, the main child character, helps the bullied boy by threatening the thugish older boy, thus allowing the bullied boy to escape. The bully wears rather slovenly long black knickers that come down almost to his ankles (they look almost like sweat pants) and a white shirt.

Created: December 20, 2003
Last updated: December 21, 2003