Generations: Lenin’s Guard

Generations: Lenin’s Guard (1965) + Intro

Three young friends meet again in post-war Moscow and discover a new society characterised by openness, liberalisation and optimism.

Meandering through everyday life of the Moscow new intelligentsia, Lenin’s Guard conjures a rarely seen vision of Soviet youth, as liberated children of WWII.

The film is notable for incorporating New Wave elements: non-actors and non-staged scenes, including documentary footage of a poetry evening by Yevgeny Yevtushenko and other prominent Soviet poets living in Moscow at that time, as well as a party scene with a young Andrey Tarkovsky.

The Thaw was unprecedented time when many great writers emerged and the poets were like modern-day pop stars, holding their poetry readings in packed stadiums. Led by Nikita Khrushchev, the era was characterised by new enthusiasm about Socialist society and its achievements.

Marlen Khutsiev is a Georgian born film-director best known for his cult films encapsulating the mood of the Thaw.

Soviet Union 1965 Dir Marlen Khutsiev 189 min