Classics: The Cranes Are Flying

Masterfully filmed love story at the time of the Second World War: a young couple is separated when the Germans invade the Soviet Union. He enlisted and left for the front, but what did the war mean for those who stayed at home? Palme d'Or Cannes 1958. 

Director Mikhail Kalatozov leaves the propaganda behind and focuses on individual emotions. That makes this film about a tragic love affair during the Second World War unique within Soviet cinema. His new film language, full of surprising camera positions, paved the way for young innovative filmmakers such as Marlen Khuchiev and Andrei Tarkovsky. It became, partly thanks to the superior photography of cameraman Sergei Urusevsky in the wide format Sovscope, a classic.