Bezhin Meadow is a 1937 Soviet film, directed by Sergei Eisenstein,
which is renowned for having been suppressed and believed destroyed
before its completion. 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, the son's efforts to stop his own father
to protect the Soviet state, and culminates 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. Commissioned by a Communist youth
group, the film's production ran from 1935 to 1937, until it was halted
by the central Soviet government for alleged artistic, social, and
political failures in the film's content. Some, however, blamed the
failure of Bezhin Meadow on government interference and policies,
extending all the way to Joseph Stalin himself. 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. 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.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezhin_Meadow>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
238:
Because of his advanced age, both Gordian I and his son Gordian II were
proclaimed Roman Emperors.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_I>
1622:
The Powhatan Confederacy under Chief Opchanacanough killed almost 350
English settlers around Jamestown, a third of the Colony of Virginia's
population.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_massacre_of_1622>
1765:
The Parliament of Great Britain passed the Stamp Act, requiring that
many printed materials in the Thirteen Colonies in British North
America carry a tax stamp, adding fuel to the growing separatist
movement in the area.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Act_1765>
1849:
First Italian War of Independence: After capturing the fortress town of
Mortara, forces led by Austrian General Joseph Radetzky von Radetz
routed Sardinian troops at the Battle of Novara.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Novara_%281849%29>
1945:
Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Transjordan, and Yemen
founded the Arab League, a regional organization that facilitates
political, economic, cultural, scientific and social programs designed
to promote the interests of the Arab world.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_League>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
protean (adj):
Exceedingly variable; readily assuming different shapes or forms
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/protean>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Music and silence... combine strongly because music is done with
silence, and silence is full of music.
--Marcel Marceau
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marcel_Marceau>