Quiet Flows the Don
(1957)
★ 7.7 IMDb · 1,385 votes
Year: 1957
Runtime: 331 min
Country: Soviet Union
Director: Сергей Герасимов
Cast: Даниил Ильченко, Анастасия Филиппова, Пётр Глебов, Николай Смирнов, Людмила Хитяева
Plot
Based on the novel of the same name by Mikhail Sholokhov, about the fate of people broken by the First World War, the October Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War in Russia (1917-1922), about the collapse of the foundations and ideals of the Don Cossacks of Russia at the beginning of the XX century, about the personal tragedy of the protagonist — Grigoriy Melekhov.
A six-hour long epic (original director's cut) about the life of Don Cossacks in a village in southern Russia between 1912 and 1922. The leading character Grigori Melekhov is a rugged Cossack who is torn between his first and true love Aksiniya, and his wife Natalya. His personal life is shown as a rough journey through the experience of World War One, the Russian Revolution, and the following Civil War. The Cossacks are shown as traditional farmers and warriors, who are suffering through the most dramatic events in the history of Russia.