The Dawns Here are Quiet
Short description
Set during the spring of 1942, this war drama takes place far from the main front lines of the Great Patriotic War. A group of highly trained Waffen-SS infiltrators lands by air at a remote railway junction, aiming to reach the White Sea-Baltic Canal and the Kirov railway. Standing in their way is a small anti-aircraft unit led by Corporal Vaskov and five young female recruits. Although the clash occurs in an isolated location, the outcome determines the safety of a vital strategic transport route for the country.
The film was directed by Renat Davletyarov, following his 2012 work Steel Butterfly and preceding Pure Art and The Pilot: A Battle for Survival. The cast features Pyotr Fyodorov in the role of Vaskov, alongside Anastasiya Mikulchina, Evgenia Malakhova, Kristina Asmus, Sofia Lebedeva, and Agniya Kuznetsova.
Produced in Russia by companies including Cinema Fund and Star Media, the movie had a budget of 3 million USD and earned 5 million USD at the worldwide box office. It holds a rating of 6.8/10 on IMDb based on 2,200 votes and a matching 6.8/10 on TMDB from 174 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- The Germans in the film were played by actual Germans.
- Renat Davletyarov and Vlad Ryashin financed the film with their own money, and only after 90 percent of it had been shot did they enter a competition in Moscow for state funding, which partially compensated their expenses.
- Benjamin Spiller, who played a German named Hans, said that all of his scenes were filmed in 13 days, with some shooting days lasting 16 hours.
- Part of the action takes place in a village. Since it was impossible to find an authentic village from 1942, the decision was made to build one. This took almost two months, with around 40 people involved in total. Disassembled houses were brought from the Tver region to the Medvezhegorsky district and reassembled. Thus, near the village of Padun (Arkhangelsk region) by the river, several buildings appeared: a barracks, a bathhouse, and a house.
- Two genuine AZP-39 anti-aircraft guns from 1939 were used during filming, having been found in a military unit in Petrozavodsk.
- Filming began in the Moscow region, where some of Rita Osyanina's recollections were shot. Filming also took place in Karelia, near Kondopoga, in the vicinity of the settlement of Girvas.
- During the filming of the scene where Sergeant Vaskov and the three surviving Germans come face to face, 150 sprinklers were used.
- In the scene of the execution of Zhenya Komelkova's relatives, you can notice the dead people breathing.
- The only actor considered for the role even before the script was written was Pyotr Fyodorov. Director Renat Davletyarov liked Fyodorov’s performance in "Pure Art" (2016) and believed he was the ideal candidate for the role of Vaskov.
- Pyotr Fyodorov had to gain 15 kilograms for his role. Prior to that, he had lost weight for the film "Homeland" (2015).
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