Scarecrow

Duration: 130 mi

Year Published: 1983

Creator: Ifex

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: Flashbacks are used to tell the story of 12-year-old Lena who arrives in a provincial town outside Moscow with her grandfather. Anxious to have her schoolmates accept her, she derides her elderly guardian, an eccentric collector of ancestral paintings. Nicknamed Scarecrow, she is befriended by Dima, the handsome class leader. When Lena shoulders the blame for Dima's act of betrayal, she is subject to cruelty and ostracism. Director Rolan Bykov captures the dynamics of Soviet children and presents a subtle commentary on the political climate that shapes their interaction. (Does not circulate)