The formative years of Bolshevist leader Vladimir Ulyanov (aka Lenin) provides the basis of this Russian biopic that begins in a provincial town in the late 19th-century where a widow contends with her six socially-conscious and politically active children. Her husband had also been a staunch supporter of peasant rights. Her eldest daughter and son are studying in the university and trouble ensues when they are arrested for conspiring to murder the czar. Because the son refuses to deny his desire to kill the czar, he is executed. The daughter is then exiled and the widow moves her family to remain close to her. The youngest boy, Vladimir, was terribly impressed by his older brother's heroism and vows to follow his footsteps. He becomes a lawyer and sets up a practice near his mother, but in his heart, Vladimir wants to be in the thick of things in Moscow. The mother gives in and sends the rest of the children to the great city. She and Lenin then take off on a crusade across the entire country. The film was followed by the sequel, Vernost Materi/A Mother's Devotion in 1967.
Sandra Brennan, www.allmovie.com
