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Movie scene which makes you better understand the Russian soul, Russian culture, Russian desires, Russian dreams, if they weren’t westernized yet.

March 21, 2013   ·   0 Comments

A photograph of himself as Stierlitz on Vyacheslav Tikhonov‘s grave.

“Seventeen Moments of Spring”. This movie series and the music written to it is considered to be one of the most significant movie art creation. Though it is not very well known in the West, tens of millions were inspired by it. There are scores of anecdotes, satires, remakes and lyrics about the “Seventeen Moments of Spring”.

The series is considered the most successful Soviet espionage thriller ever made, and as one of the most popular television series in Russian history.

Plot

12 February 1945, Germany. Max Otto von Stierlitz, an esteemed SS Standartenführer in the Ausland-SD, is in fact Soviet spy Maxim Isaev, who has infiltrated the Nazi Party. While Adolf Hitler is determined to continue the war, Walter Schellenberg convinces Heinrich Himmler to conduct secret negotiations with the Americans, hoping to reach a separate peace deal which would allow the Germans to concentrate all their forces on the Eastern Front. In the meantime, Ernst Kaltenbrunner becomes suspicious of Stierlitz, and orders Heinrich Müller to launch a secret investigation on him.

Stierlitz is ordered by Moscow to ascertain whether the Americans and the Germans have a secret channel, and if so – to prevent an agreement. His mission is complicated when the house of his sole assistants, radio operators Erwin and Katherin Kinn, is bombed. Erwin is killed, and his pregnant wife is taken to a hospital, threatening to compromise Stierlitz. He recruits two new aides – Professor Pleischner, a former member of the German Resistance, and Pastor Schlag, a clergyman who disapproves of the regime. All the while, Stierlitz has to engage in a battle of wits with Müller, who seeks to expose him as an enemy agent. He must also maneuver between the opposing factions inside the Main Security Office, as different high-ranking officials vie for power.

After realizing Himmler and Schellenberg have sent Karl Wolff to negotiate with Allen Dulles in neutral Switzerland, Stierlitz – playing on the rivalries between the Nazi plenipotentiaries – succeeds in leaking the details of the negotiations, conducted under the code name Operation Crossword, both to Hitler and to Stalin. The Soviets, now possessing evidence, demand to end those contacts and President Roosevelt obliges them. Himmler narrowly convinces Hitler it was all merely an attempt to sow distrust between the Allies. On 24 March 1945, Stierlitz, who managed to clear all suspicions against him, returns to his duties. The Red Army is steadily approaching Berlin.

Exerts from Wikipedia

 

Meeting in coffee

This particular exert is about a meeting in a coffee between Stierlitz, who is a Soviet spy positioned at the highest levels of the Nazi German war machine in Berlin, and his wife. They didn’t see each other for long time. Because of the conspiracy, they can not make any publicly visible gestures  –  they can not even talk to each other – only the eyes can meet …

This being said, one should have in mind, that the Russian culture, which is not very well known in the U.S. beyond the stereotypes, encompasses over 500 million people, after Chinese and English the third frequent spoken language on the planet. Enjoy.

Originally the movie was captured in black white.

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