Burnt by the Sun/Trivia

The title derives from a popular 1930s song composed by Jerzy Petersburski. Originally the Polish tango To ostatnia niedziela, it became popular in the Soviet Union with the new Russian lyrics as Утомлённое солнце (Utomlyonnoye solntse, Weary Sun). The song is actually heard repeatedly in the film; director Mikhalkov stated in 2007 that he learned of the song from his elder brother Andrei Konchalovsky's 1979 film Siberiade and jokingly compared this to the fact that, when a boy, he once stole some money from his brother.

The title also refers to a mysterious orb of light, similar to ball lightning, that appears at various points in the film; the film states at the end that it is dedicated to those "burnt by the sun" of the Revolution ("weary with the sun" in the Russian title).

The character of Mitya bears some resemblance to Nikolai Skoblin, a former White Army General who spied on his former comrades in France during the 1930s. On September 22, 1937, Skoblin and his wife delivered General Evgenii Miller of the Russian All-Military Union to the NKVD. General Miller was drugged, kidnapped, and smuggled aboard a Soviet ship in Le Havre Harbor. The ship carried General Miller to the Soviet Union where he was tortured and shot.

Skoblin, however, fled to Republican Spain, which refused to extradite him for trial in France. He is believed to have been murdered in Spain on the orders of the NKVD rezident, General Aleksandr Mikhailovich Orlov. Skoblin's wife and handler, Nadezhda Plevitskaya, was arrested, convicted of kidnapping by a French court, and died in prison.


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