Little Vera is a film directed by Vasily Pichul that was made in 1988. The film takes place in the Glasnost and Perestroika periods of the Soviet Union. It is a very dark and bleak film, and it is significantly different than anything else we have watched in Russian Cinema. Little Vera focuses on Vera, the main character in the film. Vera is different than many other main characters in the previous films we have viewed. In films such as Ballad of a Soldier and Moscow Does not Believe in Tears, the main characters are characters that the viewer can sympathize with and even admire. I found Vera to be a character that I did not care for in any way. She is dramatic, she does not think about her actions, and she is argumentative. This makes her difficult to like.
The major aspect of the film that stood out to me was how life was portrayed in Little Vera. The locations the film takes place in are rundown. This gives the setting a bleaker and darker feeling as the fighting that takes place between the characters occurs in these settings. In the beginning of the film the viewer can see the city covered by smoke and fog. The city itself seems plain due to the colors the buildings are painted. There are also many factories scattered throughout the city. This makes the city seem unwelcoming and dismal. This is a sharp contrast to Moscow Does not Believe in Tears, which has fancy apartments that are busy and full of people and activity.
One issue concerning life that is wrestled with in Little Vera is the problem of alcoholism. In other films the problem is not often addressed. Characters will have drinks, and they will appear happy and in good spirits. In Irony of Fate, the main character becomes inebriated enough to be sent to a different city via airplane without realizing what has happened. The film downplays this as a comic situation, and the viewer does not think about the seriousness or dangers of the situation. In Little Vera, alcoholism is not portrayed in a positive light. Characters constantly fight and argue with each other, and in one situation Vera’s father stabs Sergei. This gives the film a depressing feeling. Another problem that is dealt with in Little Vera is drugs. Vera takes anti-depressants towards the end of the film, and in one scene she seems to become addicted to them. She takes multiple pills and becomes ill. According to Beumers, “Vera attempts suicide, and is saved by her brother” (Beumers 207). The film shows Vera drinking heavily, blasting music and taking multiple pills on her own. I feel that she is just partying in excess and the suicide attempt is not planned.
Because we generally don't have narrators in film--and certainly not in this one, we can't say for certain what Vera's intentions are there at the end--and she may possibly be in such a confused haze that she herself does not know. But I do think that she was probably trying to kill herself--for one thing, note the *extreme* number of pills she takes at once. And then also the fact that she is lying on her back with a child photo of herself I think is meant to replicate the way that a person may be laid out at a funeral (and the sparkler serving as a sort of imitation of flowers). And there's no doubt that Sergei recognizes that she has OD'd and does a pretty valiant and responsible way of saving her (even if his determination to then leave the scene and head back to Moscow is pretty irresponsible and uncaring).
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