White Crow - film
Visit to see ‘The White Crow’ in the Showroom on Saturday 23rd March.
May 1961. In a blaze of publicity, Rudolf Nureyev claims political asylum at Le Bourget Airport, Paris at the end of his tour with the Kirov Ballet. What makes him defect to the west and cut his ties with Mother Russia? This film gives the background of events which eventually lead to his defection.
Rudolf Nureyev was born on a train in 1938, the youngest of 4 children, living in relative poverty in a small town far from Moscow. From his early years, it was apparent that he had little in common with children of his own age. Hence the title of the film ‘White Crow’ which means ‘outsider’. His father returns to the family home (one presumes at the end of the war) when Rudolf is about 7 or 8 and there is an uneasy relationship between them. At about this age he has dancing lessons and then moves on to Leningrad to study dance before joining the Kirov Ballet. He works hard to pursue his ambitions with an unquestionable belief in his own superior ability. He is consistently defying the Russian establishment at home and his minders whilst on tour in Paris. Not content with the adulation of the Parisian audiences, he craves the fame and accolade of the artistic centres of the world. When the Russians try to send him back to Moscow and separate him from the rest of the Kirov ballet who are travelling on to London, he knows that if he returns he will never be allowed to dance again in the public arena. With much tension, the climax of the film comes when he makes his move to escape his minders and claim asylum.
This film is directed by Ralph Fiennes, who also has a supporting role, with Oleg Ivenko as Nureyev and a full supporting international cast. The film switches from his birth, to childhood, to Leningrad, to Paris and is somewhat confusing to begin with but eventually made sense. Having distant childhood memories of Nureyev’s dramatic defection, it was interesting to learn the build up to the event. An excellent film, full of historical interest and atmospheric locations which held your attention to the end.
ELIZABETH WETHERALL