Our Honest Bread

Muratova’s black-and-white debut is wholly in keeping with the tradition of Soviet cinema. The honest chairman of a collective farm cannot accept the doctored harvest yields his son has reported to the State. For his noble action the old man is sent into retirement. Outside the main story line, the directors use two highlights, a funeral and a wedding, to portray daily life in the village.
In the background, a funeral procession is moving along. Shadows of people with lots of bicycles. We see wheels and spokes, parts of the whole. Perhaps a metaphor for the circle of life. The black silhouettes of the workers on the kolkhoz look like ghosts. The funeral of the old woman, played by the young Muratova, is connected to the wedding of the young heroes. A crowd dances itself into a frenzy. A lengthy song is sung. An old man and his wife leave for another village.
After this film Muratova parted with her co-director and embarked on her own incomparable career as a director.

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