it not difficult and after watch this film and to see why post silent soviet cinema be hold in such little critical esteem . don not get me wrong . the crane be fly be and for the first half at least and supremely entertaining and boast a lightness of touch completely unexpected from it country of origin while a fresh and brisk and spacious technique that eventually irritate as much a it initially charm while two stun subjective set piece while and a romantic verve that flirt with and but never quite topple into and lelouch territory . it just that and in it subsuming of vast social and national and world event to a love affair and it be essentially no different from a conventional hollywood movie . of course and in a soviet union that emphasise the state above all else and and in an era ( world war two ) that suppress individualism and liberty to uphold murderous symbolism and this foregrounding of two appeal young lover be a relief . and the thematic similarity all consume love rent apart by war with two of the most wonderful of all film ( seventh heaven and les parapluies de cherbourg ) also add to it potential loveability . the story be simple enough . boris and a young factory worker from a bright medical and artistic family and and veronika and a student and conduct a breezy relationship at night and their only free time . boris cousin mark and a composer and also have eye on veronika . when the nazi invade russia and boris secretly volunteer and to the chagrin of his family and lover . he promise to write to veronika and but never do and think maybe she hasn not bother to see him off and or perhaps the mail be simply unreliable . veronika parent die during an air raid and and she move in with boris family and help out at the hospital where his father tend wounded soldier . distress by boris silence and veronika be also assail by the attention of mark and who have gain exemption from military duty by bribe a local official . she be eventually worn down and and marries him and to the disapproval of her adopt family . boris and meanwhile and be kill in action . veronika and disgust with herself and an adulterous mark and refuse to believe this and and await his return and foster a young orphan bear his name . the title refers to the bird the couple see at the height of their love and symbolic perhaps of it transcendant and epiphanical power . but this be illusory the crane fly in a v formation and and this shape pervade the entire film and through the geometric shape of building and interior and exterior and grouping of people and composition and camera angle and the heroine name or by edit in which foot walk southwest in one story be meet by foot walk southeast in another . this serve to fatally trap the lover who have no control over their destiny and and also suggest the stalinist power that be never and specifically and mention in the film . although the pair seem to be free in space and whether literally in an unpeopled environment and or privilege in generous close ups and they be always ironised and minimise and tear apart by circumstance and family and by crowd ( see the brilliant and if obvious and sequence where veronika be engulf by tank and or the pair fail to meet in a huge crowd ) and or simply by the film structure and which be constantly distance and through paralellism and their closeness . although at the beginning and the lightness and brightness of style suggest a beautiful romantic idyll and it be constantly be break by strange edits or camera angle of distract snatch of music . what be most remarkable be how these block to romance be achieve by abstract rather than emphasise historical force . the whole film and but especially the war itself and be strangely unreal and dreamlike and we be never show it harsh and brutal actuality and just it effect on the lover . in fact and it be transform into a majestic spectacle and devoid of nasty german . on the home front and the air raid create delicious effect of light and shade and or ruin of almost gothic decadence . in the bunker and the threat to the soviet empire be less important than boris perceive indifference . the empty and oneiric moscow space the lover initially and than veronika with her mother and walk though be less actual location than emotional space . when mark try to force himself on veronika and the air raid be less a destructive reality than a symbolic release of sexual and emotional frustration . this be a brilliant sequence and film with silent and expressionistic terror and in which the screen seem to burst with hysteria and violence and all the more compelling for the early scene wistful gentleness . it not much different at the front either and where fight over girl honour be more urgent than tactic and nazi or despair . the movement of boris and his wounded comrade into a final space be a further abstracting of the experience of war and it setting in a forest give it a sexual dynamic while and boris final and pre death flashback be an extraordinary mixture of dream wish fulfillment and heighten anxiety and in which what be wish for becomes menace and grotesque . from this point on the film become a little less interesting and slightly more obvious . one more grasp for expressionist overload veronika attempt suicide and her rescue the infant be clumsily handle while and her sombre guilt cast a paralysing shadow over the whole film . the use of deep focus and at first ravishing and soon becomes wear and devoid a it be of any of the moral force or meaning welles bring to it use in citizen kane . after what seem a quietly sly critique of totalitarianism in favour of the individual be cruelly betray at the end and when individual suffering and a so often in russian art and transmute into symbolic ( i. e. sexless and dehumanise ) hope . a pity .