235 millions de visages

The most ambitious work of the 1960s, 235 000 000 was made on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 1917 Revolution, and it is an unusual jubilee film. It was made without any off-screen commentary, allowing images to speak for themselves to the accompaniment of music. The picture has two main narrative and musical themes: human life and significant state events. These were documented by four production units traveling across the USSR that were guided by a field manual put together by scriptwriter Herz Frank and director Uldis Brauns (a disciple of Dziga Vertov). The resulting film is an emotional and visually attractive portrait of timeless moments in human life. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)