Disc 1: The Last Bolshevik

Based on the life and work of the Russian film director Alexander Medvedkin (1900-1989), THE LAST BOLSHEVIK is a tribute from one filmmaker to another. An archeological expedition into film history that reveals new cinematictreasures, the film prompts a reflection on the relation between art and politics in the former Soviet Union.

The film captures the commitment, energy, struggles, illusions and disillusions of a believing but never naïve Bolshevik. From Medvedkin's classic 1934 satire Happiness, and the 'film train' which he directed in the 1930s, to his sardonic comedies and bitter war newsreels, Chris Marker draws a panorama of the artistic, political, and moral universe of a life and a country, bringing it right up to date with his own vision of Russia today.

An intricate work with many levels and layers, The Last Bolshevik is also a distillation of the art and beliefs of one of the greatest documentarians of our time, Chris Marker, who has revolutionized documentary as his near-contemporary Jean-Luc Godard transformed film fiction, crossing boundaries and mixing genres.

"One of the major essays of Chris Marker--which automatically makes this one of the key works of our time--this remarkable video (1993) is provisionally about his friend and mentor, the late Soviet filmmaker Alexander Medvedkin (1900-1989), in the form of six video "letters" sent to him posthumously. More profoundly, this is about the history of Soviet cinema and the Soviet Union itself, about what it meant to be a communist, about what these things mean now.... Eloquent and mordantly witty in its poetic writing, beautiful and often painterly in its images, this is as moving and as provocative in many respects as Marker's Sans soleil (1982), which places it very high indeed. Not to be missed."—Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

116 minutes / color / Region 1

EXTRAS: Medvedkine and Dziga Vertov, by Nikolaï Izvolov (segment not included in edited version)

Disc 2: Happiness - A silent film by Alexander Medvedkine 1934 – 64 mn

“I just saw Medvekine’s Comedy, Happiness, and, as they say, I can’t keep silent. Because today, I saw how a Bolshevik laughs! You can start a comedy by declaring: “Chaplin isn’t in it.” It’s a fact that Charlie Chaplin does not appear in the film…It’s a “new model” Chaplin…But that’s where I must express my delight at what Medvedkine provides: in his point of view, in what he intelligently reveals, in his choice of fantastic moments…With Chaplin, the gag is individualist. With Medvedkine, it is socialist…Therefore, what we have here is not only an exceptional film, but an exceptional author.” S.M. Eisenstein

EXTRAS: Medvedkine and the Ciné-train adventure: Watch Your Health! – Journal No. 4 – How do you live Comrade Minor? – The Conveyor Belt

The entire Alexander Ivanovitch Medvedkine monologue (extract from the film The Train Rolls On by Chris Marker with the voice of François Périer)

2 reenactments by Nikolaï Izvolov of lost films of Medvedkine: Stop the Thief! – The Story of Titus

Region 1