Cinema: Rushes: Jul. 4, 1988

COMMISSAR

In 1922 Soviet soldiers march into a Ukrainian village and, at their leader's heartless command, shoot down a deserter. Just another businesslike day in the life of Commissar Klavdia Vavilova (Nonna Mordukova). But even in a revolution that boasts of sexual equality, women will get pregnant. Vavilova must bear her child in the hovel of a Jewish tinsmith (Rolan Bykov) and his family. Their enforced intimacy sparks a cultural exchange: the commissar becomes feminized, and the tinsmith's wife (Raisa Nedashkovskaya) becomes a bit of a feminist. Outside, though, the Jew's children are taunted and tortured in a kind of dress rehearsal for Babi Yar. And after Vavilova gives birth, she must decide whether an officer's first loyalty is to her besieged country or her infant son.

Filmed in handsome chiaroscuro and with an austere camera zest, this Russian film makes for a poignant humanist fable. So does the story of its making and suppression. Writer-Director Alexander Askoldov finished his film in 1967. But the Soviet authorities, accusing Askoldov of "promoting Zionism and . . . imperialist chauvinism," shelved Commissar, and Askoldov has never made another picture. Only last year, as glasnost was opening the door of artistic freedom, was the director able to free his kidnaped film. Commissar won a Silver Bear at the 1988 Berlin Film Festival, though the Soviet press neglected to mention it. A true movie hero, Askoldov is bold enough to fight for small victories and to hope for a final vindication: that even the Soviet public may soon be able to see a film whose very survival does them proud. -- R.C.