Idea
Andrei Konchalovsky very impressed the article on the Internet about postmen in the Russian outback. According to statistics, over the past five years, the number of villages in Russia decreased by 17 thousand. It is also noted that the population of each of at least 34 thousand villages does not exceed ten people. Distance from cities and off-road do not allow neither doctors nor the police to get to many settlements, and in this situation the only connection between people and civilization is the postman. "I wanted to remove a detailed study of a person's life, and then I began to think: what kind of person would I like to trace? - Andrei Konchalovsky is divided. - Then the idea arose: the postman is a wonderful profession and in the city, and in the village. He sees many different people, you can see a whole layer of any society. The postman, of course, is good, and when he is in the village - even better. And we began to look. "
Search
The decision of the director does not work with actors, but with ordinary people it implied the search for villagers with fate and a surroundings worthy of filmcenerable. That is why the acting bases were not useful here, and the Konchalovsky team had to be like documentalists, ride around the villages and collect material. At first, fifty applicants took away, then left twenty, then only three and finally made the final choice. "It seemed to me that precisely with this person - Alexei Roggy - it will be very interesting," says Andrei Konchalovsky. - We went to him, talked, looked at him, so to speak, "recipients" - those who receive mail. And they understood: this is the most. So the main character and other heroes that everyone played themselves appeared. "
Hero
The postman Lech, he was Alexei Raggenitsyn, born and rose on the shore of Kenozer, in the village in the Arkhangelsk region. All his brothers and sisters were reversible, and he stayed to live in the house built by the Father. "When I got a call from Konchalovsky, they said that they wanted to see if I could take me in the cinema, I decided that it was a draw. Even specifically called back from another room, the friend has taken the phone to check. But there they answered - "Konchalovsky's film", and I realized that it was not a draw, "says a new actor. - There was no big joy, I am not a lover to work on the camera. Yes, and was afraid. At first I thought that I was doing them on the boat, they will shoot the villages. And they say: "We will shoot you." I: "Why am me? Which of me the artist?! "I could not even dream." The most difficult for Alexey was to look into the chamber, but when he realized that it was not necessary to do this, then everything became much easier. According to the script, the postman was to talk to the villagers. And no one refused to communicate. Therefore, they were filmed what was really happening.
A place
Kenozersky National Park is a specially protected natural territory. But the loud status and amazing beauty of the place (lake, small churches and few villages) do not make the life of people serene. In the spring, when the ice begins to melt, and in the fall, when the lake has not yet frozen, it becomes impossible to get to the "big land". In this situation, residents of small villages scattered along the shores of the lake remain in absolute isolation. They catch fish, drown the stoves, baked bread and live only at the expense of their own labor. "Three days to get there and three nights," recalls the operator Andrei Valenzov. - First you go on the bus, then on the jeep, the road is worse and worse. And now you come to such a big village, from all sides the water, you sit on the river steamer and are also sailing on it. And somewhere at the end of the route, where this steam and never comes, it is worth the farm, literally three houses. "
Reward
"Participation in the Venetian film festival is very important for me, because Venice is the first place where I came from Moscow, being a student of Vgika. Venice shook me for life. At this year, my student work received a prize there, and in the same year, the film "Ivanovo Childhood" Andrei Tarkovsky, for whom I wrote a script, "Golden Lion." It was the beginning of my career, "recalls Andrei Konchalovsky. - With Venice, my feeling of Europe is connected. There I saw on the streets of singing people, and it seemed to me strange: Actually, people should sing on holidays, and they, Venetians, every day - a holiday. Participation in the festival in Venice for me proof that you can shoot a movie "on the knee", and it may make sense for someone else. "