Beg on AllMovie

The English title is a translation of the Russian word "Beg," which means run, flight or escape. This lavish USSR epic film examines the lives of a number of White Russians. "White" Russians, in contrast to "Red" Russians, were active opponents of the Bolshevik Revolution and included among their number many notable intellectuals and aristocrats. Indeed, from 1917 until well into the 1920's there was an active counterrevolution in parts of what became the USSR. After the film's White Russians fled the revolution, it details the humiliations they endured in Paris and Turkey, and the experience of those who returned to Soviet Russia. This film is notable in that it tells the story of their difficulties in a remarkably sympathetic fashion. Directors Alov and Naumov were given wide latitude by Soviet authorities, and made other notable (and internationally acclaimed) epic films such as The Legend of Til Eulenspiegel, and Teheran '43. Among the highlights of this film are performances by Mikhail Ulyanov as General Tchernota and Vladislav Dvorzhelsky as Khludov.