Laughter and Grief by the White Sea
Encyclopedia
Laughter and Grief by the White Sea ' onMouseout='HidePop("16484")' href="/topics/Romanization_of_Russian">tr.
:Smekh i gore u Bela morya) is a 1987
Soviet
traditionally-animated
feature film
directed by Leonid Nosyrev made at the Soyuzmultfilm
studio. The film is a celebration of the culture of the Russian Pomors
who live around the White Sea
.
It is based on stories by folklorists
and writers Boris Shergin
and Stepan Pisakhov
, except for the last segment which is based on a real event that happened in 1857.
. The eldest of them tells them that "there has been so much untruth told about our region" that he wants to set the record straight and tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. With that said, he begins his first tale.
(alongside with the polar bear
s who work for them) sell "eternal icebergs" which they use in place of boats.
s are allowed in the villages - only white polar bears. This is a tale about a brown bear who finds some baking powder
, makes himself white, and attempts to sneak into a village.
.
In the winter, it sometimes gets so cold that words freeze as soon as they come out of your mouth. This tale is about how a German
merchant buys frozen songs from the people and shows them to a packed concert hall in Germany.
.
With his last tale finished, the old man asks his audience if they are asleep. "We're alive", one of them answers.
Here is the literal translation of the original epitaph from Russian (no rhymes as in the original):
The shipwrights, Ivan and Ondriyan,
Here ended their earthly labours,
And collapsed into the long rest,
And wait for the archangel's horn.
In the autumn of 1857
Thunderous bad weather enveloped the sea.
By God's judgement or by our own dumb error
Our boat was lost with our fishing gear and provisions,
And we, brothers, were forced on this barren rock
To wait for the hour of death.
To distract our minds from timeless boredom
To this whole board we applied our determined hands...
Ondriyan graced this frame with carvings for mirth,
Ivan wrote the chronicle for disclosing
That we are of Lichutin kin, sons of Grigoriy,
Mezen
townsmen.
And remember us, all who sail past
These parts of the ocean-sea.
Original Russian text:
Корабельные плотники Иван с Ондреяном
Здесь скончали земные труды,
И на долгий отдых повалились,
И ждут архангеловой трубы.
Осенью 1857 года
Окинула море грозна непогода.
Божьим судом или своей оплошкой
Карбас утерялся со снастьми и припасом,
И нам, братьям, досталось на здешней корге
Ждать смертного часу.
Чтоб ум отманить об безвременной скуки,
К сей доске приложили мы старательные руки...
Ондриян ухитрил раму резьбой для увеселения,
Иван летопись писал для уведомления,
Что родом мы Личутины, Григорьевы дети,
Мезенски мещане.
И помяните нас все плывущие
В сих концах моря-океана.
Romanization of Russian
Romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet...
:Smekh i gore u Bela morya) is a 1987
1987 in film
-Events:*January 31 - The Cure for Insomnia premieres at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, to officially become the world's longest film according to Guinness World Records....
Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
traditionally-animated
Traditional animation
Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
directed by Leonid Nosyrev made at the Soyuzmultfilm
Soyuzmultfilm
Soyuzmultfilm is a Russian animation studio based in Moscow. Over the years it has gained international attention and respect, garnering numerous awards both at home and abroad. Noted for a great variety of style, it is regarded as the most influential animation studio of the former Soviet Union...
studio. The film is a celebration of the culture of the Russian Pomors
Pomors
Pomors or Pomory are Russian settlers and their descendants on the White Sea coast. It is also term of self-identification for the descendants of Russian, primarily Novgorod, settlers of Pomorye , living on the White Sea coasts and the territory whose southern border lies on a watershed which...
who live around the White Sea
White Sea
The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast. The whole of the White Sea is under Russian sovereignty and considered to be part of...
.
It is based on stories by folklorists
Folkloristics
Folkloristics is the formal academic study of folklore. The term derives from a nineteenth century German designation of folkloristik to distinguish between folklore as the content and folkloristics as its study, much as language is distinguished from linguistics...
and writers Boris Shergin
Boris Shergin
Boris Viktorovich Shergin was a Pomor-Soviet writer and folklorist. He was born on July 28, 1896 in Arkhangelsk and died on October 31, 1973 in Moscow.-Biography:...
and Stepan Pisakhov
Stepan Pisakhov
Stepan Grigorievich Pisakhov - Russian artist, writer, ethnographer, and fairy tale author.-Biography:Stepan Pisakhov was born into a family of a merchant; at the same time his father was a craftsman – a jeweler and engraver. After finishing a municipal school in Arkhangelsk Stepan studied in...
, except for the last segment which is based on a real event that happened in 1857.
Plot
In the evening, several Pomor men have brought in their boats for the day and are relaxing in a fishermen's hut by the light of a kerosene lampKerosene lamp
The kerosene lamp is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel. This article refers to kerosene lamps that have a wick and a tall glass chimney. Kerosene lanterns that have a wick and a glass globe are related to kerosene lamps and are included here as well...
. The eldest of them tells them that "there has been so much untruth told about our region" that he wants to set the record straight and tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. With that said, he begins his first tale.
Eternal Icebergs (Вечны льдины)
A tale of how the villagers of the Arkhangelsk OblastArkhangelsk Oblast
Arkhangelsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It includes the Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, as well as the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea....
(alongside with the polar bear
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
s who work for them) sell "eternal icebergs" which they use in place of boats.
About the Bear (Про медведя)
Because this is, after all, the North, no brown bearBrown Bear
The brown bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It can weigh from and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family and as the largest land-based predator.There are several recognized...
s are allowed in the villages - only white polar bears. This is a tale about a brown bear who finds some baking powder
Baking powder
Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of baked goods such as muffins, cakes, scones and American-style biscuits. Baking powder works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid-base reaction, causing bubbles in...
, makes himself white, and attempts to sneak into a village.
Frozen Songs (Морожены песни)
A tale by Stepan PisakhovStepan Pisakhov
Stepan Grigorievich Pisakhov - Russian artist, writer, ethnographer, and fairy tale author.-Biography:Stepan Pisakhov was born into a family of a merchant; at the same time his father was a craftsman – a jeweler and engraver. After finishing a municipal school in Arkhangelsk Stepan studied in...
.
In the winter, it sometimes gets so cold that words freeze as soon as they come out of your mouth. This tale is about how a German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
merchant buys frozen songs from the people and shows them to a packed concert hall in Germany.
The Magic Ring (Волшебное кольцо)
The old man decides to tell a tale about the cat and the dog that the Pomors keep for company in the hut. The tale itself was written by Boris SherginBoris Shergin
Boris Viktorovich Shergin was a Pomor-Soviet writer and folklorist. He was born on July 28, 1896 in Arkhangelsk and died on October 31, 1973 in Moscow.-Biography:...
.
The Sawess (Перепилиха)
A tale about a woman who meets a bear while in the woods and discovers that she has an extremely powerful voice - so powerful that it makes the bear faint and cuts through everything (hence the name "Perepilikha", which comes from "perepilit", "to saw through"). She takes the bear home as a trophy and yells at her husband so much that she bores a hole through his chest. The husband finds that the hole makes music when he breathes and that he can now sing with accompaniment. In the end, the Perepilikha's voice is put to a good use - cutting trees for the men.The Orange (Апельсин)
A tale about how the narrator once accidentally threw an orange overboard while crossing the river. The orange proceeds to grow into a huge tree (growing in the middle of the river) with one gigantic orange-shaped fruit at its top. They can't cut off the fruit, so they decide to bring in the Sawess. The fruit turns out to be full of hundreds of oranges which rain down on the deck of the ship. In the polar winter, they find that the orange has absorbed the sun's light from the summer and gives them light during the whole season.Ivan and Andrian (Иван и Андриан)
With the evening getting later, the old man tells a more serious tale. The tale is about two fishermen who decide to spend the night on a small rocky island in the sea. At night a huge storm comes upon them and sinks their boat. Left on the island with no hope of escape or rescue, and knowing that they are going to die, they come to the conclusion the nobody is going to have anything to remember them by and so decide to carve their story on the piece of wood which they used for cutting fish. Meanwhile, their mother sings a song lamenting their deaths. The younger dies 6 weeks later - the date of death of the older is not recorded on the beautifully-carved board.With his last tale finished, the old man asks his audience if they are asleep. "We're alive", one of them answers.
Creators
| English | Russian | |
|---|---|---|
| Director | Leonid Nosyrev | Леонид Носырев |
| Scenario | Leonid Nosyrev Yuriy Koval |
Леонид Носырев Юрий Коваль |
| Art Director | Vera Kudryavtseva-Yengalycheva | Вера Кудрявцева-Енгалычева |
| Artists | Svetlana Davydova Vladimir Zakharov Nikolay Mitrokhin Nadezhda Alferova Marina Ignatenko I. Kuzmina T. Yegorova Ye. Kachkova S. Mashkova V. Haritonova L. Biryukova Irina Svetlitsa I. Balashova |
Светлана Давыдова Владимир Захаров Николай Митрохин Надежда Алферова Марина Игнатенко И. Кузьмина Т. Егорова Е. Качкова С. Машкова В. Харитонова Л. Бирюкова Ирина Светлица И. Балашова |
| Animators | Renata Mirenkova Aleksey Pukin Lyudmila Lobanova Yuriy Kuzyurin Viktor Lihachyov Marina Rogova Marina Voskanyants Anatoliy Abarenov Yelena Malashenkova Oleg Komarov Iosif Kuroyan |
Рената Миренкова Алексей Пукин Людмила Лобанова Юрий Кузюрин Виктор Лихачёв Марина Рогова Марина Восканьянц Анатолий Абаренов Елена Малашенкова Олег Комаров Иосиф Куроян |
| Camera Operators | Aleksandr Chekhovskiy Kabul Rasulov Lyudmila Krutovskaya Natalia Mikhaylova |
Александр Чеховский Кабул Расулов Людмила Крутовская Наталия Михайлова |
| Executive Producers | Lyubov Butyrina T. Zozulya V. Yegorshin |
Любовь Бутырина Т. Зозуля В. Егоршин |
| Composer | Yevgeniy Botyarov | Евгений Ботяров |
| Sound Operator | Viktor Kotov Vladimir Kutuzov Boris Filchikov Yelena Kunakova |
Виктор Котов Владимир Кутузов Борис Фильчиков Елена Кунакова |
| Script Editor | Natalya Abramova | Наталья Абрамова |
| Voice Actors | Tatyana Vasilyeva Klara Rumyanova Klara Rumyanova Klara Mikhailovna Rumyanova was a Soviet and Russian actress and singer. She was active from 1951 to 1999.Her small, adorable voice is easily recognized by several generations of Soviet people from their early childhood, because she voiced numerous Russian animated films and sang countless... Yevgeniy Leonov Anatoliy Barantsev Mariya Vinogradova Kira Smirnova Yuriy Volyntsev Boris Novikov |
Татьяна Васильева Клара Румянова Евгений Леонов Анатолий Баранцев Мария Виноградова Кира Смирнова Юрий Волынцев Борис Новиков |
| Editor | Olga Vasilenko | Ольга Василенко |
| Vocals | Zinaida Popova | Зинаида Попова |
| Lyrics | Genrikh Sapgir Genrikh Sapgir Genrikh Sapgir was a Russian poet and fiction writer.-Biography:He was born in Biysk to a family of a Moscow engineer on a business trip. The family returned to Moscow fairly soon.... |
Генрих Сапгир |
| "Worked on the film" | O. Isakova Maya Popova T. Dombrovskaya |
О. Исакова Майя Попова Т. Домбровская |
Historical basis for "Ivan and Andrian"
The last tale is based upon a real carved epitaph that was found on a nameless island in the Arctic Ocean. The art and text carved onto it was recorded by Boris Shergin. The name "Ondriyan" is changed to "Andrian" in the film, and the epitaph is shortened from the original.Here is the literal translation of the original epitaph from Russian (no rhymes as in the original):
The shipwrights, Ivan and Ondriyan,
Here ended their earthly labours,
And collapsed into the long rest,
And wait for the archangel's horn.
In the autumn of 1857
Thunderous bad weather enveloped the sea.
By God's judgement or by our own dumb error
Our boat was lost with our fishing gear and provisions,
And we, brothers, were forced on this barren rock
To wait for the hour of death.
To distract our minds from timeless boredom
To this whole board we applied our determined hands...
Ondriyan graced this frame with carvings for mirth,
Ivan wrote the chronicle for disclosing
That we are of Lichutin kin, sons of Grigoriy,
Mezen
Mezen
-See also:*Administrative divisions of Arkhangelsk Oblast...
townsmen.
And remember us, all who sail past
These parts of the ocean-sea.
Original Russian text:
Корабельные плотники Иван с Ондреяном
Здесь скончали земные труды,
И на долгий отдых повалились,
И ждут архангеловой трубы.
Осенью 1857 года
Окинула море грозна непогода.
Божьим судом или своей оплошкой
Карбас утерялся со снастьми и припасом,
И нам, братьям, досталось на здешней корге
Ждать смертного часу.
Чтоб ум отманить об безвременной скуки,
К сей доске приложили мы старательные руки...
Ондриян ухитрил раму резьбой для увеселения,
Иван летопись писал для уведомления,
Что родом мы Личутины, Григорьевы дети,
Мезенски мещане.
И помяните нас все плывущие
В сих концах моря-океана.
See also
- Adult animationAdult animationAdult animation is a term used to describe animation that is targeted at adults. Animated films and television shows may be considered adult for a number of reasons. Some productions are noted for experimental storytelling and animation techniques, or sophisticated storytelling...
- History of Russian animationHistory of Russian animationThe History of Russian animation is very rich, but is so far a nearly unexplored field for Western film theory and history. As most of Russia's production of animation for film|cinema and television was created during Soviet times, it may also be referred to as the History of Soviet...
- List of animated feature-length films
External links
- The film at the Animator.ruAnimator.ruAnimator.ru is a Russian website chronicling the films, people and studios of the animation industry in Russia, the former Soviet Union and the CIS. It also includes a forum, a news block, a photo-gallery and an animators labour exchange...
(English and Russian) - The film at myltik.ru
- Interview with Leonid Nosyrev (2005)