Ya shagayu po Moskve

"Walking the streets of Moscow" is a cultmovie in Russia but not in the rest of the World.

The film was made in the period of the cultural thaw after the deat of Stalin. In this period much was possible leading to films that are also cult in the rest of the World, like "Soy Cuba" (1964, Mikhail Kalatozov) from the same year.

Much was possible, but not everything. Just like in the West in the first half of the '60s a post Second World War generation grew up and raised his voice. Screenwriter Gennady Shpalikov wrote a script about this generation featuring friends returning to Moscow after their military service. The script was not received warmly by the censors although it ultimately became the film "I am twenty" (1965, Marlen Khustsiev).

"Walking the streets of Moscow" is the more innocent version of "I am twenty" written by the same screenwriter. Its protagonists are younger (17-18 years of age) and their rebellion more innocent. Helpful too would have been that Moscow is portrayed at his most advantageous side. Look at the metro stations, the GUM department store, Gorki park and the brandnew airport.

"Walking the streets of Londen" is about two boys and a girl doing exactly that what the title describes. Apart from the rebellion of the post war generation it is also about a love triangle. Comparing it with Western counterparts as "A hard day's night" (1964, Richard Lester, rebellion of the post war generation) and "Jules and Jim" (1962, Francois Truffaut, love triangle) we understand why the film never became a World-wide cult movie.

The movie contains an iconic scene in which a girl walking barefoot in the rain is accompanied by a boy cycling next to her and trying to hold an umbrella above her head. Comparing this iconoc scene with for example the scene from "La dolce vita" (1960, Federico Fellini) in which Anita Ekberg is wading in the Trevi fountain there is again one word that comes to mind: innocence!

Why did the film became cult in Russia? I think one explanation is that the cultural thaw disappeared in the Brezhnev years and that there is a lot og nostalgia connected to the early sixties.