Kindergarten

This first film by Siberian poet Yevtushenko is an autobiographical work about his evacuation as a boy of nine from wartime Moscow to Siberia. The story centers on the Dickensian adventures of a young boy, Zhenya, who is evacuated by train along with other Muscovites fleeing the German invasion of 1941. En route to his grandmother's home in Siberia, the child encounters thieves, speculators, and black marketeers and experiences love, death, and friendship. Yevtushenko's film pays homage to the Italian neo-realists and the surrealism of Cocteau. The director used nonprofessionals to tell his story including his own relatives. Yevtushenko himself appears in a small role as an eccentric chess player. (Does not circulate)