Odna is a silent movie made in 1930 with a score by Dimitri Shostakovich.
It appeared as a talkie in cinemas in 1931.
The second last act and one third of the score have disappeared.
The music has been reconstructed by Mark Fitz-Gerald.
The missing sixth act is described by intertitles.
Odna - Alone
Screenplay and direction: G. Kozintsev, L. Trauberg
Sound director: L. Arnshtam Camera: A. Moskvin
Art direction: Y. Yenej
Composer: D. Shostakovich
Sound department: I. Volk
Main actress: Kuzmina - J. Kuzmina
Her fianc�: P. Sobolevski The village soviet: S. Gerasimov
His wife: M. Babanova Kulak Bey: Van Liu-Sian
Young teacher: Y. Zhejmo Man on the phone: B. Chirkov
Production: Soyuzkino, 1931
produced with the system by A. F. Shorin
Time to get up!
The studying days are over, college is finished
I live at the top of a five-storied tower block
I brush my teeth, comb my hair and wash myself
I have to write two reports
And do all of Plekhanov again!
What a house
How I like it here
Here lives Shakt, the overzealous philosopher
How nice
questionnaire for graduates of the college of education
Kuzmina, Yelena Alexandrovna.
Profession?
Teacher.
Where would you like to work?
Here!
He's waiting.
He...
isn't waiting.
He's not coming.
I ran off from the office.
But one shouldn't do that.
Life is going to be beautiful
It'll be wonderful
Life is going to be beautiful!
It'll be...
wonderful!
The graduated Kuzmina...
gets a teacher's post...
in the Altay Mountains.
Don't go.
Stay here.
Comrades!
This isn't about the fate of hundreds of people...
of millions.
There remains only one question:
What have you done?
What are you doing?
What will you do?
I'm going to protest!
You...
are part of the cultural reconstruction.
Lodge a protest then.
They're not sending me northwards on ground of health reasons.
But I'm in perfect health!
Yes.
What? No, I can't.
What is there to eat? Hello?
Soup? And liver paste?
Magnificent. With eggs!
And then stew?
How can one only talk about such a thing?
How are you then?
And Ninotshka? And the little one?
Yes, I give you a big kiss.
Petya? What shall I do?
Would it be unwise not to go?
Why of all people do I have to go to the Altay?
Because I live on my own?
I'm going to marry!
We'll buy beautiful furniture.
Life will be beautiful!
They're engaged and want to marry.
They want beautiful furniture.
Life will be beautiful.
Hand over the documents.
In accordance with our instructions...
we decide the deployment...
of teachers...
to their predestined line of march.
These teachers must...
be willing and prepared...
to contribute to the reconstruction...
of Socialism.
Those who are in doubt and have only their self-interest in mind...
are enemies of the Soviet state.
Those people are of no use to us.
Therefore teacher Kuzmina stays here...
for she doesn't want to go to the place that is assigned to her.
We ask for teacher Kuzmina to be left here...
for she doesn't want to go to Siberia.
What fool would want to go to such a remote place anyway?
Her life could've been so beautiful.
I'm going anyway!
Comrades!
This isn't about the fate of hundreds of people...
but of millions.
There remains only one question:
What have you done?
What are you doing?
What are you going to do?
I'm going away...
and teach the children.
Or more.
What would the Altay people live on...
if they didn't have any sheep?
I am a teacher and have to speak to the village soviet.
What are you going to teach?
Alone...
I am the president of the village soviet.
This is the shaman. He clings to his old-fashioned beliefs...
but he is loyal to the authorities.
I have to report to the district.
Do you have many sheep?
I used to be a rich Bey and had lots of sheep.
I have given the sheep to my relatives.
Why does he get all the wool we shear?
You come from far away, right?
I am here for the children.
I'm not that interested in your sheep.
Today we talk about all the wonders of technology.
Winter has begun.
During winter the sheep remain in their stables.
I need a lot of shepherds for my sheep.
What do we care about your sheep?
You won't take those children with you to make them work.
Little child
Sweet, little child
What's your husband's name?
Sidor, Sidor
Sidor, my dear friend
Little child
Sweet, little child
How many children do you have?
Seven, seven
Seven, dear friend
Don't you feel pity for those children?
What do I care about your children?
I'm only interested in my house.
Life will be so beautiful!
It'll be so beautiful!
So beautiful...
Time to get up!
No more Kulaks in the kolkhozes!
Those placards are brand new.
I have no instructions concerning the children.
It's none of my business.
And so this is the village soviet?
Don't you always get your money on time?
Do you also sign?
You don't understand any of the rest.
There are the placards.
A masterpiece.
If the children don't show up at school, the school will go to the children.
He who slaughters young cattle is an enemy.
We must not get cold.
It'll get warm around noon.
Budyonny's riders fly across the steppe.
You can take the children back to school.
I sold the sheep's meat to someone.
But the sheep belong to the people.
Go and tell your people!
What will they live on if you kill all the sheep?
Who are you exactly?
You and that rabble?
Are you stirring them up against me?
He wants to slaughter your sheep!
I've paid for them, so I can sell them too.
You only bought ten sheep.
We raised them.
The village soviet cannot interfere...
when there is a license for private trading.
I don't care about the newspaper.
I will go to the district and call for justice.
Tell them that all the people without property go to the soviet.
You don't have a sleigh.
I'll be proven right. Take my sleigh.
Bring her and take care she doesn't freeze.
And thus Kuzmina leaves the village.
On the Bey's sleigh...
she goes on the long journey to the next village.
where she will speak of the activities of the Bey...
and the village soviet.
But the cattle dealer has something else in mind.
He was secretly ordered by the Bey...
to try and leave Kuzmina behind in the icy wilderness.
He suggests she should take a little walk to warm up a bit.
He wants to be rid of her in the middle of nowhere...
so she will freeze to death...
and the truth remains hidden forever.
The fiendish plan is successful:
Kuzmina steps off the sleigh...
and instantly the cattle dealer puts the spurs to his horse.
He quickly disappears behind the next turn.
Kuzmina stays behind...
entirely at the mercy of the freezing cold...
all alone in a place where there's no one to be found.
Following the sleigh's trail...
she trudges through the deep snow.
She barely makes any progress.
A storm breaks loose.
Kuzmina doesn't stand a chance.
The region is completely uninhabited.
Looking for a shortcut she ends up into impassable terrain.
The storm increases and she can't see a thing.
Kuzmina wanders about through the snow.
She reproaches herself for being so stupid...
to take up the Bey on his offer.
Now certain death awaits her.
She falls and gets up again with a lot of effort.
She keeps on struggling through the snowdrifts.
She drifts further and further from the road.
The snowstorm gets worse.
Desperately Kuzmina tries to fend off the cold...
and gives everything she's got...
in order to prevent from being buried under the mass of snow.
She plunges deeper and deeper into the snow.
At the mercy of the icy storm she keeps fighting for her life.
She manages to drag herself along while looking death in the eyes.
The snow and wind take her breath away.
Soon she's barely able to move.
Meanwhile the villagers are worried about Kuzmina.
They await her return from a shelter.
The following morning they leave...
to go and look for her.
It's hard to find Kuzmina in this desolate place.
They find her three miles from the school.
They're just in time.
Kuzmina is completely exhausted and almost frozen.
The cold has weakened her enormously.
Her arms are so cold...
that she can't move them anymore.
Her body is as stiff as a poker.
She has barely any strength left...
and doesn't feel anything.
She is quickly taken to the village...
where she is taken care of as good as possible.
The villagers do everything they can...
to save Kuzmina's life.
She's in a critical state.
She was exposed to the icy cold for far too long.
The villagers are outraged...
and demand to know the truth.
As they don't trust the Bey and the village soviet...
they call for a meeting out in the open.
All the villagers come together and everyone has questions.
The Bey and the village soviet are called to account...
for what they did.
Those sheep have nothing to do with it.
Little child
Sweet, little child
How many children do you have?
Seven, seven
My dear friend
So this is the end.
Nothing bad can be said of the work the village soviet does.
You will live.
How about your homework?
What about the teacher?
The village soviet will bury her...
and you will pay for it.
Why did we elect you?
To help us die?
You let the Bey keep his sheep.
The old soviet didn't help, so maybe a new one will.
Write down that she wanted us to keep our sheep.
Write down that the people without property saved her.
Teacher Kuzmina is dying.
She can only be saved if help gets here soon.
Comrades!
Teacher Kuzmina is on the verge of dying in the Altay.
Only an operation can save her.
Listen!
Novosibirsk.
We have received...
the telegram concerning Kuzmina.
We're sending an aeroplane.
We owe all of this...
to our socialist society.
Listen!
In order to save teacher Kuzmina...
a plane from Novosibirsk...
is on its way to the Altay!
What can the iron bird do?
It can save a human life.
I'll be back soon.
What can man do?
Man can create new life.
How beautiful...
life will turn out to be!
the end