The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (1979)

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Soviet Classics - this mini-series was made in 1979 and since that year it remains the classic and one of the all-time-favorite-films of Russian watchers. Stanislav Govorukhin made a really excellent movie. He told us a simple story of Sovie Criminal Investigation department in Moscow in 1945, with main protagonists Gleb Zheglov (played by already ailing and very weakened Vladimir Vysotsky) and Vladimir Sharapov (Vladimir Konkin) trying to catch and arrest the famous after-war gang, The Black Cat. This is a part of Russian history and very severe one. The movie is a feast of superb actors - Yurski, Sadalski, Fateeva, Zaklunnaya, Dzhigarkhanyan, Bortnik, Gerdt among many. This is a very period piece, but so timeless and so deep that it stood the test of time extremely well. It is highly recommended for all who like Soviet history and deep decent psychological drama. Watch it and you will never be sorry or bored. This one is a real feast of real-life characters and thrilling events

This is a great movie. But the most touching scene for me is when Sharapov and Jeglov found their neighbor crying. Poor woman about 40, living with several children lost the food stamps for a whole family. And when Jeglov calmed her down and she managed to explain the situation, Jeglov immediately offered to that woman his own food stamps and the ones of Sharapov. Stunned Sharapov agreed and looked delighted; other neighbors gave some food too. And when woman started thanking him, promising to work for him, Jeglov forced her to cut it out immediately. They gave their food stamps almost for the whole month and now they have a big problem with their own food, but you feel that they are happy. It is the real thing, on which the Soviet power was based on. This is the way, we managed to won the WW2. It is the thing that was inherent for the real Russian (Soviet). Now, under the yoke of 'democracy' we have deprived of our soul, we have deprived of our nation, we are not Russians anymore, we are scum, just like an Americans. 'Kremlads' turned the life of almost all the population into the chase for peanuts. And meantime dirty rats sold our country out and killed our future. There is no even 1 real Russian in this territory, there is not even such country like Russia. It is just a prison, filled with slaves sentenced to death. As for USA, they can only make a parody for charity. They call this charity to have the right to bawl that they are the most charitable nation in the world, while destroying other countries and preparing another world war.

This movie is a gem. I was amazed by its storytelling: at first slow, the momentum goes building on, spiralling until you finally get trapped in a never ending suspense. What would be of young Sharapov? If I had to pick a climax scene, I would say is that when the new recruit of the Moscow Criminal Police ends up having to supper at the same table of the most dangerous Moscow criminal! The story makes here quite a twist, since previously Mr. Visotsky had stealed himself the show, without even giving a chance to his fellow partner.Simply put, what an amazing way to tell a story.. In this movie it seems like every scriptwriter, assistant, every person in the crew carefully invested his talent and effort into creating a masterpiece. And this actually isn't a movie properly, but a TV mini-series. Having recently seen other East European works like the Dekalog (polish television) and Ironiya sudby, ili S lyogkim parom! (or the Irony of Fate) I can only conclude that the former Soviet television was able to produce a content of the utmost quality.Having said that, I think it's such a shame that so few Western audiences (if any at all) had been exposed to Soviet culture. But I can not blame them anyway, for two reasons. First, some (and I remark "some") of this content might be ideologically flawed. Secondly, the English subtitles are really poor, and there were parts of this movie where the translation wasn't helpful at all, proving instead to be very confusing.I'll stop here, since this is not the forum to discuss the deeper meaning of some Soviet content. I'll just recommend you to watch this movie. It's a masterpiece, greater than anything Hollywood could ever produce. Now that this movie is available on DVD from numerous sites on the Web, there's no excuse to give it a chance.

This film (actually a series) is one of the best the Russian cinema has to offer. It cannot compare with the works of Eisenstein or Tarkovsky but it is an above average work of art. The fact that it is more that 4 hours long does not hinder it a bit. There are several superb performances including one by the late Vladimir Visotsky.