Burnt by the Sun

Burnt by the Sun (Утомлённые солнцем, Soleil trompeur) is a 1994 Russian drama by Nikita Mikhalkov set in one day in the 1930s, focusing on the effect of the dictatorship of Iosif Stalin on a Red Army officer. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, one of only three in Russian to do so, the other two being War and Peace and Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears.

A sequel, a Great Patriotic War film called Burnt by the Sun 2, was filmed and competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Nikita Mikhalkov directed and reprised his role as Sergei Petrovich Kotov. Oleg Menshikov and Nadezhda Mikhalkova also reprised their roles from the original film. The film is Russian film's most expensive failure, having played to empty houses before being withdrawn from circulation.


 * Anti-Hero
 * Bath Suicide: Dimitri/Mitya at the end.
 * Bittersweet Ending
 * Book Ends: The story ends where it began, in Mitya's apartment, but this time he is slitting his wrists in the bathtub.
 * Costume Porn
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: The theme by Eduard Artemyev.
 * Energy Ball: Ball lightning.
 * Malevolent Mugshot: The poster of Iosif Stalin.
 * Motif: The ball lightning.
 * The Purge
 * Reign of Terror
 * Running Gag: The truck driver who is lost.
 * Scenery Porn
 * Secret Police
 * Sequelitis: Burnt by the Sun 2.
 * State Sec