The Commissar

When Commissar Klavdia first arrives at the home of the Mahazannik family, no one is very happy about her arrival. Yefim and the children strip the room of all their possessions, leaving the Commissar with almost nothing to sleep with. But after Yefim leaves for work the next morning, Maria and Klavdia have a discussion while they are eating breakfast. Maria starts to give Kladvia advice on how she should raise her baby, and the women start to form a bond.

The Mahazannik family seems to have a major influence on Kladvia. Both Maria and Yefim seem to be fairly happy people, despite everything they have been through. Kladvia sees that Maria is just a normal housewife whose life revolves around her children. We see how much see cares for them when she is washing her baby's face, and she calls him her "little angel". Yefim has the responsibility of keeping his wife and six children fed, yet he still sings on his way to work. Kladvia starts to sympathize with the family when she sees how difficult Communism and the war has made their lives.

I think that the way the Mahazannik children play is great indicator of the things they have witnessed in their lives. The scenes with the children playing is probably one reason this film was banned for so long, since it does not show the Communist Party in a very good light.

The Commissar was also a very artistic film. I noticed that the burning candle was shown many different times, often at different angles. We see it the first night Kladvia stays with the Mahazanniks, when she puts it out with her fingers. Many scenes either begin or end with a shot of the candle burning on the table. When the family is in the shelter and Yefim starts to sing and dance to distract the children, they dance around the table with the candle sitting on top of it. Also, while the family is dancing, we are shown only their hands, one person at a time, on a black background as they dance around in a circle.

I also noticed that when Kladvia is in labor, we are shown a flashback of soldiers in the desert and they are running until they get to a river, where they start drinking. Then there is a shot of Kladvia, who is still in labor, drinking a glass of water. Finally we see horses also running until they get to water.

I think that Kladvia leaves her baby with the Jewish family at the end because she wants to go back and fight with the Red Army, and knows her baby will be in good hands.