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26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

On September 8, 1941, the siege of Leningrad began. This is a terrible page in the history of the city, about which people still talk with pain in their hearts. We offer you to familiarize yourself with feature and documentary films about the siege of Leningrad, each of which respectfully conveys the events of those tragic days.

Modern movies about the siege of Leningrad

Modern authors continue to rethink the difficult years of the siege of Leningrad. In the production of their pictures they reverently treat the memory of the defenders and residents of the besieged city, trying to honestly tell the viewer what they had to go through.

Ladoga (mini-series)

Ladoga
  • IMDB Rating – 7.1
  • Genre: Military, Drama
  • Production: Russia / 2013
  • Director: Alexander Veledinsky
  • Starring: Ksenia Rappoport, Alexei Serebryakov, Andrei Merzlikin, Dmitry Nazarov, Yuri Kuznetsov, Vitaly Kovalenko, Yakov Shamshin, Anna Blinova, Philip Ershov, Oleg Fedorov

The series “Ladoga” takes the viewer to the besieged Leningrad in 1942. “Road of Life” – the only transportation highway across Lake Ladoga, providing the city with supplies and weapons.

Soviet scouts learned that one of the drivers working on the highway betrayed them. With his help the fascists are preparing a sabotage on the Road of Life. Captain Sergienko of the NKVD is assigned to prevent the tragedy, and the driver Maxim and the girl Olga will help him.

Filming took place at the same place where the real historical events in the series unfolded. The actors refused to understudy and went out on the frozen lake themselves. The project took 40 days to produce.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Africa

Africa
  • Genre: Melodrama, family, military
  • Production: Russia / 2021
  • Director: Daria Binevskaya, Nadia Slavetskaya
  • Starring: Alexei Rodionov, Oleg Chugunov, Ekaterina Guseva, Igor Petrenko, Mark Vdovin, Alisa Klagish, Denis Kazandaykin, Andrei Garkunov, Lily, Jacqueline

1943. People are rapidly leaving a small village near the blockade of Leningrad. A mother and three children could not overcome the difficult road. The woman was completely weakened, so she could not even stand on her feet.

Her two sons decided to go on their own to look for food in the snowy terrain. When they come across a wounded dog on the battlefield, they face a difficult choice: save the family from starvation or spare the animal.

The script is based on the collective image of four-legged friends of Soviet soldiers who helped them throughout the war. The authors note that despite the military and harsh subject matter, the movie will be interesting for children.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Martha’s Line (mini-series)

Martha's Line
  • IMDB Rating – 7.0
  • Genre: Melodrama
  • Production: Russia / 2014
  • Director: Oleg Gaze
  • Starring: Alisa Freindlich, Maria Anikanova, Beata Tyshkevich, Tamara Semina, Igor Klass, Lydia Fedoseyeva-Shukshina, Valery Boyarintsev, Valery Lee, Sherkhan Abilov, Oleg Volkov

Olga is going through a difficult divorce and deteriorating relations with her daughter. They are forced to move into an old apartment in St. Petersburg. During the renovation, they accidentally find a letter written during the siege of Leningrad.

The author of the letter is a certain Yura, who regrets that he offended his friend Marta and never had time to say that he loves her. Mother and daughter decide to find Marta, and this search helps them not only to learn the history of the blockade survivors, but also to understand their own feelings.

One of the leading roles was played by Alisa Freindlich, who as a child caught the years of the siege of Leningrad. The actress has the most terrible memories of 1942-1943.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Leningrad (mini-series)

Leningrad
  • IMDB Rating – 6.0
  • Genre: Drama, Military
  • Production: Russia / 2007
  • Director: Alexander Buravsky
  • Starring: Mira Sorvino, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Olga Sutulova, Gabriel Byrne, Mikhail Efremov, Alexander Abdulov, Vladimir Ilyin, Yulia Rutberg, Mikhail Trukhin, Evgeny Sidikhin.

“Leningrad” is a TV series of British-Russian production. In addition to St. Petersburg, filming took place in Budapest and London. The action of the series is set in October 1941 in Leningrad. The city is besieged, and food is coming to an end. Even with the economy people will not last long.

The crossing of Lake Ladoga is impossible because of the thin ice. The only accessible route is a narrow coastal spit. But only hydrographer Vasily Pavlovich Krause, staying in Peterhof, knows about it. The search for the scientist is entrusted to senior major of state security Malinin.

This is one of the biggest and most expensive projects in Russian cinematography. In addition to the TV series, there is a one and a half hour movie.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Save Leningrad

Save Leningrad
  • IMDB Rating – 5.8
  • Genre: Military, action, drama, history, melodrama
  • Production: Russia / 2019
  • Worldwide box office: $3,124,179
  • Director: Alexei Kozlov
  • Starring: Maria Melnikova, Andrey Mironov-Udalov, Gela Meskhi, Anastasia Melnikova, Valery Degtyar, Marina Komarova, Vitaly Kishchenko, Alexey Shevchenkov, Boris Scherbakov, Inga Oboldina

The beginning of the fall of 1941. Leningrad is taken into the blockade ring, and the inhabitants make attempts to leave the city. One of the options for evacuation is to cross Lake Ladoga on the old barge No. 752. On it are the beloved cadets Kostya and Nastya.

During the crossing the barge got into a storm and suffered a disaster. But the first to arrive at the scene of the disaster were not Soviet rescuers, but German pilots, who began to attack civilians.

The plot of the series is based on the real events that started the famous “Road of Life”. For filming, it was necessary to build several mini-mock-ups of the barge in order to shoot a plausible sinking of the ship.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

The corridor of immortality

The corridor of immortality
  • IMDB Rating – 5.7
  • Genre: Drama, Military, History
  • Production: Russia / 2019
  • Budget: ₽ 197,000,000
  • Worldwide Box Office: $686,183
  • Director: Fedor Popov
  • Starring: Artem Alekseev, Anastasia Tsibizova, Igor Yasulovich, Artem Melnichuk, Alexander Yatsenko, Daria Ekamasova, Anatoly Goryachev, Alexander Oblasov, Svetlana Smirnova-Katsagadzhieva, Tagir Rakhimov

The harsh years of the blockade winter have come to an end. Yesterday’s schoolgirl Masha Yablochkina goes to the railroad courses. From there she and other graduates are sent to the 48th steam locomotive column. They were entrusted with the construction of the Shlisselburg highway, capable of connecting Leningrad with the Big Land.

The guys will have to work hard in the cold under the regular fire of German soldiers. It was for the harsh working conditions that the highway was once nicknamed the “Corridor of Death”.

The prototype of Masha was Maria Ivanovna Yablontseva, who worked as a conductor on the same highway. During the filming, the authors were advised by the front-line writer Daniil Aleksandrovich Granin.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Celebration

Celebration
  • IMDB Rating – 6.0
  • Genre: Comedy, Drama, Military, History
  • Production: Russia / 2019
  • Budget: ₽ 4,000,000
  • Director: Alexei Krasovsky
  • Starring: Jan Tsapnik, Alyona Babenko, Pavel Tabakov, Anfisa Chernykh, Timofey Tribuntsev, Anastasia Chistyakova, Ekaterina Gatalskaya

Among all modern films about the siege of Leningrad, “Holiday” stands out for its scandalous reputation. It tells about the Voskresensky family, who are “in a special position” with the state.

During the blockade, they were not particularly poor, but tried to hide their well-being from others. But on New Year’s Eve the family suddenly ran into trouble when the children brought strangers into the house who could reveal their secret to the people.

Due to criticism, the movie premiered on the director’s personal YouTube channel. Filming of the picture took 8 days, and the dark range of color is due to problems with the interior of the house.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Three days until spring

Three days until spring
  • IMDB Rating – 5.8
  • Genre: Military, Detective
  • Production: Russia / 2017
  • Worldwide box office: $147,384
  • Director: Alexander Kasatkin
  • Starring: Kirill Pletnyov, Elena Lotova, Evgeny Sidikhin, Yuri Itskov, Vladislav Abashin, Polina Krasavina, Igor Grabuzov, Peter Tereshchenko, Ivan Dranoshchuk, Kirill Nazarov

The war drama is set in the winter Leningrad of 1942. The city, tormented by the blockade, is living through some of the most difficult days. The threat of epidemic is added to all other problems. A bacteriological laboratory is hit by a bomb blast.

The virus did not spread instantly only thanks to the frost, but with warming temperatures the residents may face serious consequences of the explosion. To prevent the catastrophe will have to NKVD officer Andreev and doctor Maritskaya. They have only three days to save Leningrad.

The script is partly inspired by fragments from “The Siege Book” by Ales Adamovich and Daniil Granin. The authors plan to make a trilogy about the life of besieged Leningrad.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Scream of silence

Scream of silence
  • IMDB Rating – 6.8
  • Genre: Drama, History, Military
  • Production: Russia / 2019
  • Director: Vladimir Potapov
  • Starring: Alina Sargina, Lev Girshov, Artem Bystrov, Svetlana Smirnova-Martsinkevich, Vladimir Menshov, Nadezhda Markina, Lyudmila Egorova, Natalia Fisson, Sergey Parshin, Maria Kononova

Having barely survived the blockade winter of 1942, Zina Voronova is in despair, because it is impossible to leave the city with a small child in her arms. She decides to abandon the boy and leaves. The baby miraculously survives thanks to an orphan girl, Katya, who at the request of the manager takes him to her.

He does not remember his name, so the girl calls him Seryozha and passes him off as her brother. Katya intends to do everything to protect the boy and survive the harsh war together with him.

The film is based on Tamara Zinberg’s story “The Seventh Symphony”, which was first screened in 1966 (“Winter Morning”). This movie is supplemented with war chronicles about the siege of Leningrad.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Blockade diary

Blockade diary
  • Genre: Drama, History, Military
  • Production: Russia / 2020
  • Worldwide box office: $16,538
  • Director: Andrey Zaitsev
  • Starring: Olga Ozollapinya, Sergei Dreiden, Andrei Shibarshin, Daria Rumyantseva, Alexandra Granina, Vasilina Makovtseva, Sofia Uritskaya, Olga Granina, Polina Filonenko, Ivan Mozheiko.

One of the new movies about the Siege of Leningrad is based on the memoirs of Leningrad poet Olga Berggolts. The poetess dedicated many works to 1941-1944 years, for which she was nicknamed “Leningrad Madonna”.

The action takes place in the late winter of 1942, when many residents of Leningrad died of starvation. The situation was worsened by 30-degree frost and snow. The main character Olga has just buried her spouse and has no doubt that she has not long to live. Despite the harsh conditions, she walks across the city to see her father one last time and say goodbye.

The black and white color scheme was chosen by the director to enhance the chronicle feel.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Soviet movies about the siege of Leningrad

Old films about the life of the Siege of Leningrad are of special value for the present generations. The authors of Soviet films still kept fresh memories of those terrible days and strove to pass on their thoughts and experiences to their descendants so that nothing like this would ever happen again in history.

Sit next to me, Mishka

Sit next to me, Mishka
  • Genre: Children’s, Military
  • Production: USSR / 1977
  • Director: Yakov Bazelyan
  • Starring: Evgeny Chernitsyn, Georgy Noskov, Oksana Bochkova, Stasik Selivanov, Natalia Rychagova, Boris Morozov, Anastasia Voznesenskaya, Andrei Myagkov, Sergei Dvoretsky, Larisa Eremina

“Sit next to me, Mishka” is one of those Soviet films about the siege of Leningrad that shows the history of World War II through the eyes of children. It was based on Yuri German’s autobiographical story “That’s How It Was”, and his son, Alexei German, became one of the screenwriters of the movie.

The plot centers on three children – Mishka Afanasyev, Gena and Lenochka Loshadkin. Together they organized small concerts in military hospitals for wounded Soviet soldiers. Their childhood fell on the war, but the children did not despair and believed in victory. And, of course, their optimism gave the soldiers the strength and spirit to fight for their homeland further.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

We looked death in the face

We looked death in the face
  • IMDB Rating – 7.4
  • Genre: Drama, Military
  • Production: USSR / 1980
  • Director: Naum Birman
  • Starring: Oleg Dal, Lyubov Malinovskaya, Larisa Tolkacheva, Yuri Zhukov, Olga Kuznetsova, Julia Slezkinskaya, Alexander Dovgalyov, Alexander Zenkevich, Igor Kustov, Yuri Fedorov.

The plot tells about the real events of 1942, and the prototype of Boris Korbut was the Soviet ballet master Arkady Obrant. At the end of the first blockade winter Korbut receives an assignment from the political department: he is tasked with gathering a group of dancers for the agitvvzvode.

Among the adult population of Leningrad there are few people willing to dance at such a time. The only hope are the teenagers who once studied with Korbut. He manages to assemble an ensemble, but all the boys are exhausted, and harsh rehearsals are ahead of them.

The title is taken from the poem “Young Drummer” (translated by Mikhail Svetlov). The script was written by Yuri Yakovlev based on his book “Ballerina of the Political Department”.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Gunpowder

Gunpowder
  • IMDB Rating – 7.6
  • Genre: Drama, Military
  • Production: USSR / 1985
  • Director: Viktor Aristov
  • Starring: Yuri Belyaev, Svetlana Bragarnik, Lyubov Kalyuzhnaya, Vadim Makarovsky, Nozheri Chonishvili, Vladimir Varentsov, Konstantin Sarynin, Logman Kerimov, Evgeny Liskonog, Konstantin Lukashov.

The list of Soviet films about the siege of Leningrad is replenished by another tape based on a real fact from the history of the defense of the city. In the fall of 1941, the Soviet troops faced a shortage of ammunition. To replenish the stock of gunpowder, it was necessary to go to Kronstadt.

But it was difficult to get to the warehouse, and even more so to sail because of the German air attack. Realizing that the defense of the city depended on their success, the soldiers put their duty to the Motherland above their own lives.

During the production of the tape burned from the inside of the fort “Emperor Alexander I”: the fire was required by the plot of the movie.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Blockade

Blockade
  • IMDB Rating – 6.9
  • Genre: Drama, Military
  • Production: USSR / 1974
  • Director: Mikhail Ershov
  • Starring: Yuri Solomin, Yevgeny Lebedev, Irina Akulova, Lev Zolotukhin, Vladislav Strzelchik, Mikhail Ulyanov, Daniil Sagal, Boris Gorbatov, Sergey Kharchenko, Georgy Gegechkori.

The movie epic “Blockade” consists of four episodes, each of which is dedicated to the resilience and bravery of Soviet soldiers and people who survived the siege of Leningrad. The action of the tape takes place in 1941-1942 at a time when the inhabitants of Leningrad daily struggled with hunger, deprivation, and in winter with the terrible cold. At the same time, it tells how the competent strategy of the Supreme Command did not allow the Germans to break through the Soviet defense and destroy the city and its inhabitants.

The movie is a film adaptation of Alexander Tchaikovsky’s work of the same name. Filming took seven years, and the series premiere was timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the liberation of Leningrad.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Day stars

Day stars
  • IMDB Rating – 7.4
  • Genre: Drama, Biography
  • Production: USSR / 1966
  • Director: Igor Talankin
  • Starring: Alla Demidova, Andrei Popov, Konstantin Baranov, Tatiana Lennikova, Alexandra Malysheva, Elena Borisova, Ivan Ufimtsev, Anatoly Ignatiev, V. Demidovsky, Yuri Leonidov.

The movie is based on Olga Berggolts’ autobiographical book “Day Stars”. Olga is a native of Leningrad. She grew up there, acquiring the status of the best poetess of the USSR, and together with other residents of the city steadfastly met the difficulties and hardships that fell to the fate of Leningrad residents.

During these years, the poetess wrote her strongest and most touching works, which supported many during the blockade. Her voice and works gave the residents hope.

Although the movie was shot in 1966, it was released two years later due to censorship. The film was awarded the Gold Medal of Participation at the Venice Film Festival.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Baltic Sky

Baltic Sky
  • IMDB Rating – 6.8
  • Genre: Drama, Military, History
  • Production: USSR / 1960
  • Director: Vladimir Vengerov
  • Starring: Peter Glebov, Vsevolod Platov, Mikhail Ulyanov, Rolan Bykov, Mikhail Kozakov, Inna Kondratieva, Eeve Kivi, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Oleg Borisov, Vladislav Strzelchik.

Soviet war drama about the brave defenders of Leningrad during the difficult years of 1941-1942. The plot revolves around a squadron of I-16 fighters. During the fight with enemy invaders pilots, including their commander Captain Rassokhin, are killed.

Major Lunin, who once served in civil aviation, takes command of the squadron. He will be accompanied by pilot Kuznetsov, who was expelled from the military school for hooliganism. In harsh conditions, both will have to quickly learn to become a real ace.

The film is an adaptation of the work of the same name by Nikolai Chukovsky, who, however, turned out to be dissatisfied with the movie.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Winter morning

Winter morning
  • IMDB Rating – 7.4
  • Genre: Drama, Military
  • Production: USSR / 1966
  • Director: Nikolai Lebedev
  • Starring: Tatiana Soldatenkova, Konstantin Kornakov, Nikolai Timofeev, Vera Kuznetsova, Lilia Gurova, Vsevolod Kuznetsov, Fedor Fedorovsky, Evgeny Grigoriev, Zhanna Sukhopolskaya, Stanislav Sokolov.

During the war, young Katya was left without parents. There was no one to take care of her, and in addition she took responsibility for a little boy whom she had rescued after a bombing. He could not remember his name, so the girl called him Sergei, and told everyone that it was her brother.

Meanwhile, Captain Voronov returns to the city, who, unable to find his family, gives food to two orphans. But fate brings the captain and Katya together again in the hospital, where they realize that this meeting was not just for nothing.

The movie is based on the story “The Seventh Symphony” by Tamara Zinberg, but unlike the original, the plot of the Soviet film was softened.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Five days off

Five days off
  • Genre: Drama, melodrama, military
  • Production: USSR / 1969
  • Director: Eduard Gavrilov
  • Starring: Oleg Efremov, Natalia Kuznetsova, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolai Boyarsky, Alexander Mikhailichenko, Victor Markin, Andrei Manke, Sergei Torkachevsky, Tamara Volodina, Oleg Voskresensky.

The beginning of winter, 1941. After the battle, Krylov’s company lost a lot of fighters. They arrive in Leningrad for re-forming. The new recruits are mainly composed of men of age. Among them was a soldier Koshkin, who gave his rations to his daughter Olga. From hunger the girl could hardly keep on her feet. Seeing such a picture, an experienced fighter Alexei Kazantsev gets to know Olga better, wanting to help her. In the city Kazantsev discovers the harsh conditions in which civilians live.

Screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Iosif Gerasimov. When the movie was first released, the only famous face in it was Ivan Lapikov.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Waltz

Waltz
  • Genre: Drama
  • Production: USSR / 1969
  • Director: Viktor Titov
  • Starring: Andrei Nikonov, Irina Varley, Alisa Freindlich, Olga Gobzeva, Alla Meshcheryakova, Ekaterina Vasilyeva, Igor Yasulovich, Nikita Podgorny, Igor Ledogorov, F. Bastunopoulos.

The movie “Waltz” on the example of one communal apartment demonstrates how the inhabitants of besieged Leningrad together coped with the misfortune. After the death of his mother, the boy Petya is left alone. His younger brother is missing. Petya is taken in by a neighboring family. Wanting to help somehow, the boy goes to work at the factory. There he meets his younger brother Vovka and decides that he will replace his family.

The movie was directed by Viktor Titov, known for the comedy “Hello, I am your aunt!”. Most of Titov’s works were subjected to severe censorship. In particular, “Waltz” was banned for screening because of “decadent attitudes”.

Leningrad Symphony

Leningrad Symphony
  • IMDB Rating – 7.1
  • Genre: Drama, Military
  • Production: USSR / 1957
  • Director: Zakhar Agranenko
  • Starring: Mark Pertsovsky, Olga Malko, Nikolai Kryuchkov, Zhanna Sukhopolskaya, Robert Bushkov, Mikhail Tumanishvili, Yuri Krotenko, Vladimir Damsky, Sergei Kurilov, Maxim Straukh

In the summer of 1942, the score of Dmitry Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 was delivered to the Radio House in Leningrad. The composer dedicated the symphony to the besieged city and dreamed most of all that the people of Leningrad would hear it. But almost all the musicians had gone to the front, and there was no one to join the orchestra.

Wishing to breathe hope into the suffering city, some musicians returned from the front. From their last strength they performed the Leningrad Symphony, proving that nothing and no one can break the defenders and inhabitants of the city. The symphony was first performed in Kuibyshev, then it was heard in Novosibirsk, Great Britain and the USA. Only on August 9, 1942 did the symphony reach Leningrad, and Anna Akhmatova nicknamed it “Leningrad”.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Once upon a time there was a girl

Once upon a time there was a girl
  • IMDB Rating – 7.5
  • Genre: Drama, Military
  • Production: USSR / 1944
  • Director: Victor Eysymont
  • Starring: Nina Ivanova, Natalia Protzapina, Ada Voitsik, Vera Altayskaya, Lydia Shtykan, Alexander Larikov, Nikolai Korn, Elena Kirillova.

Nastya and Katya were just little girls when the war came to town. More than anything, they want to play, have fun and sing songs. But now they have to work as hard as adults to survive in these harsh times.

Food supplies are running out, they have to go to the frozen Neva River for water, and it’s a cold winter outside. The girls do not know when the war will end, but they are sure that winter will recede and a warm spring wind will blow outside.

Filming of the war drama began in January 1943, when the blockade ring was broken through. The director of the picture decided to take a risk and shoot some scenes in Leningrad to reliably show what was happening in the city.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Invincible

Invincible
  • IMDB Rating – 6.2
  • Genre: Drama, Military
  • Production: USSR / 1942
  • Director: Sergei Gerasimov, Mikhail Kalatozov
  • Starring: Boris Babochkin, Boris Blinov, Tamara Makarova, Viktor Klyucharev, Pyotr Kirillov, Alexander Khvylia, Pyotr Aleynikov, Nikolai P. Cherkasov, Valentina Telegina.

August 1941 was coming to an end. Engineer Rodionov, Chief Designer of the Kirov Plant, receives an assignment from the management: it is urgent to increase the production of a new tank. Meanwhile, the blockade ring has closed, and the city is attacked daily by the Germans. But Rodionov does not intend to leave his workplace. To help him comes engineer Nastya Kovaleva, who has the necessary drawings for the production of the tank.

“Invincible” was the first full-length picture about the Great Patriotic War. Filming took place in besieged Leningrad in the fall of 1941. Finish work on the picture had to be already in evacuation.

Green chains

Green chains
  • IMDB Rating – 6.3
  • Genre: Adventure
  • Production: USSR / 1970
  • Director: Grigory Aronov
  • Starring: Igor Urumbekov, Vladimir Leletko, Pavel Luspekaev, Oleg Belov, Alexander Mikhailov, Lyudmila Glazova, Aristarkh Livanov, Fedor Odinokov, Alexander Lipov, Yuri Oskin.

In the summer of 1941, Stöpa and Misha leave the pioneer camp and return home to Leningrad. On the way they meet a one-armed front man who introduces himself as Uncle Petya. When the bombing began, the boys lost sight of the new acquaintance, except that they still had his suitcase in their hands.

Out of curiosity the boys looked into it and found a rocket launcher, which they immediately used. The shot attracted Soviet counterintelligence. That’s how Stöpa and Misha found out that Uncle Petya was not a front-line soldier, but a German spy.

The movie is named for the conventional signal used by the Germans to designate targets – five green rockets fired in a row.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Documentaries

Documentary films occupy a special place in cinematography, helping to look at the events of bygone days unvarnished. Documentary films about the Siege of Leningrad are based on the real memories of those who lived through those terrible days.

900 days.

900 days.
  • IMDB Rating – 7.3
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Production: Netherlands / 2011
  • Director: Jessica Gorter

“900 Days” is a Dutch-made documentary film directed by Jessica Gorter. The post-Soviet subjects interested the girl a lot, and at the age of 18 she managed to get to St. Petersburg for the first time. The city fascinated her, but everything in it reminded her of the severe blockade.

In the documentary Gorter presents veterans and people who survived the blockade. They tell the real story of those years, which for a long time was covered up by the official “truth”. The key theme of 95% of the movie was the survival of Leningraders under the blockade.

The film was highly praised by critics and recognized as the best Dutch documentary.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

We’re reading “The Siege Book”

We're reading "The Siege Book"
  • IMDB Rating – 6.1
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Production: Russia / 2009
  • Director: Alexander Sokurov
  • Starring: Oleg Basilashvili, Marina Moshkova, Tatiana Moshkova, Olga Antonova, Mikhail Chernyak, Mikhail Morozov, Larisa Malevannaya, Sergey Losev, Sergey Barkovsky, Ivan Krasko

“Blockade Book” – a famous work by Daniil Granin and Ales Adamovich, written in 1977-1981. The documentary chronicle combined 200 stories about life in besieged Leningrad. In 2013, the book was included in the rating of “100 books” recommended for schoolchildren to read.

The authors of the tape “Reading the Blockade Book” invited residents of St. Petersburg of various professions and ages to each of them to read an excerpt of the work. Among the guests were also living witnesses of the blockade. The closer the readers get to the finale, the greater the tension and emotions grow.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad

Children of the Blockade (TV series)

Children of the Blockade
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Production: Russia / 2007
  • Director: Alla Chikicheva
  • Starring: Zoya Vinogradova, Ivan Krasko

The documentary series “Children of the Blockade” shows the real story of people who caught the war as children. The heroes of the tape tell about their lives during the blockade, about how they perceived the war. In their stories, they touch on how the blockade affected the life of the city, and how its inhabitants did not give up in the face of common misfortune.

And at the end of each story, the authors show who the blockade child became, and what contribution he made to the history of the country. Some characters of the series meet in another 2014 documentary film “The Unconquered”.

26 Movies About the Siege of Leningrad
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Анна Румянцева
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