Bezhin Meadow

Bezhin Meadow
Directed by	Sergei Eisenstein
Written by	Isaak Babel Sergei M. Eisenstein Aleksandr Rzheshevsky
Story by	Ivan Turgenev
Produced by	V. Ya. Babitsky
Starring	Vitya Kartashov Nikolai Khmelyov Pavel Ardzhanov Yekaterina Teleshova Erast Garin Nikolai Maslov Boris Zakhava
Cinematography	Vladimir Nilsen Eduard Tisse
Edited by	Klavdya Alyeva[1]
Music by	Gavriil Popov Sergei Prokofiev (reconstructed music)[2]
Production company	Gosudarstvennoe Upravlenie Kinematografii
Distributed by	Mosfilm
Release date	1937 (1937)
Running time	30 minutes
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian
Budget	₱2 million

Bezhin Meadow (Бежин луг, Bezhin lug) is a 1937 Soviet propaganda film, famous for having been suppressed and believed destroyed before its completion. Directed by Sergei Eisenstein, it tells the story of a young farm boy whose father attempts to betray the government for political reasons by sabotaging the year's harvest and the son's efforts to stop his own father to protect the Soviet state, culminating in the boy's murder and a social uprising.^[3][4][5] The film draws its title from a story by Ivan Turgenev, but is based on the (largely fabricated) life story of Pavlik Morozov, a young Russian boy who became a political martyr following his death in 1932, after he supposedly denounced his father to Soviet government authorities and subsequently died at the hands of his family. Pavlik Morozov was immortalized in school programs, poetry, music, and film.^[6]

Commissioned by a communist youth group, the film's production ran from 1935 to 1937, until it was halted by the central Soviet government, which said it contained artistic, social, and political failures.^[3][7] Some, however, blamed the failure of Bezhin Meadow on government interference and policies, extending all the way to Joseph Stalin himself.^[8] In the wake of the film's failure, Eisenstein publicly recanted his work as an error.^[9] Individuals were arrested during and after the ensuing debacle.^[5][10]

Bezhin Meadow was long thought lost in the wake of World War II bombings. In the 1960s, however, cuttings and partial prints of the film were found; from these, a reconstruction of Bezhin Meadow, based on the original script, was undertaken.^[10][11] Rich in religious symbolism, the film and its history became the focus of academic study.^[12][13] The film was extensively discussed both inside and outside of the film industry for its historical nature, the odd circumstances of its production and failure, and its imagery, which is considered some of the greatest in cinema.^[10][14] In spite of the failure of Bezhin Meadow, Eisenstein rebounded to win Soviet acclaim and awards, and became artistic director of a major film studio.^[15]