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''Bezhin Meadow'' (, ') is a 1937 Soviet 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.〔〔〔 The film draws its title from a story by Ivan Turgenev, but is based on the life of Pavlik Morozov, a young Russian boy who became a political martyr following his death in 1932, after he 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 in film.〔 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.〔〔 Some, however, blamed the failure of ''Bezhin Meadow'' on government interference and policies, extending all the way to Joseph Stalin himself.〔 In the wake of the film's failure, Eisenstein publicly recanted his work as an error.〔 Individuals were arrested during and after the ensuing debacle.〔〔 ''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.〔〔 Rich in religious symbolism, the film and its history became the focus of academic study.〔〔 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.〔〔 In spite of the failure of ''Bezhin Meadow'', Eisenstein would rebound to win Soviet acclaim and awards, and become artistic director of a major film studio.〔 ==Plot== Because ''Bezhin Meadow'' was repeatedly edited, re-shot, and changed to satisfy the Soviet government authorities, several versions of the film were created. The most sourced and best-known version focuses on Stepok, a young boy in a collective farming village, who is a member of the local Young Pioneers Communist organization, as are other local children. His father Samokhin, a farmer, plans to sabotage the village harvest for political reasons by burning down the titular meadow, but Stepok organizes the other Young Pioneer children to guard the crops. Samokhin grows progressively more frustrated by his son's actions and success. Eventually, Stepok reports Samokhin's crimes to the Soviet government authorities, and is in turn slain by his own father for betraying his family.〔 The other Young Pioneers break into the local church, singing songs, and desecrate it in response to Stepok's death.〔〔 The visuals of the film shift during the destruction of the church, with the villagers becoming that which they are destroying—the angry villagers, by the end of the set piece, are depicted as Christ-like, angelic, and prophetic figures.〔 A later re-editing of the film opens with images of orchards and blue sky, showing a stone obelisk with Turgenev's name on it. It is next revealed that Stepok's mother has been beaten to death by his father. In a dark hut, Samokhin complains that his son has a greater loyalty to the Soviet than his own family, as Stepok enters from the bright day outside. His father quotes from the Bible: "If the son betrays his father, kill him like a dog!" Samokhin is arrested for arson, and Stepok leaves with a Communist functionary. The other arsonists take refuge in the local church, and are soon arrested. The arsonists are nearly lynched, but are saved from the villagers' wrath by Stepok. The villagers transform the church into a clubhouse, symbolically ridiculing religion or the clergy.〔 In some versions, the destruction of the church was replaced with a scene of villagers fighting the arsonist's fire. In the film, the fire was started when the arsonists threw dried sunflowers and lit matches into the community's fuel storage area. In some cuts, Stepok overhears his father's planning and sneaks out in the night to inform on him; in others, the local Communist Party functionary breastfeeds Stepok's young sister; in still others, Stepok's father says after shooting his son, "They took you from me, but I did not give you to them. I did not give my own flesh and blood." After Stepok's death, the same aforementioned Communist official carries him off, joined by other children, in a funeral march that was said to evolve into a victory march.〔 The film, as mentioned by Shumyatsky and Eisenstein, is rich in religious iconography and the symbolic struggle between good and evil.〔〔 Additionally, Birgit Beumers writes, "The peasants here are grey-bearded prophets; the young men are broad-shouldered Renaissance apostles; the fleshy girls are earthly Madonnas; the peasant wrecking the iconostasis is a biblical Samson; the chubby young boy in the shirt, raised high under the cupola towards the slanting sun-ray which turns his locks golden, is the young Jesus Christ ascending to the Heavenly Throne."〔Beumers, Birgit (ed.). Russia on reels: the Russian idea in post-Soviet cinema. Kino: the Russian cinema series. London and New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 1999. ISBN 1-86064-390-6; pages 16–17〕 ''Bezhin Meadow'', in its various unreleased versions, was "Dedicated to the bright memory of Pavlik Morozov, a small hero of our time"〔 (cf. ''A Hero of Our Time''). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bezhin Meadow」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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