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«Alexey Germant made films not for the plot, but to tell a story about time.»
(Naborskaya)
Concept
Alexey Germant-Senior (1938–2013) is one of the most distinctive and complex Russian directors, whose cinema consistently transcended traditional narrative forms. His films are distinguished not only by their unique visual composition but also by their particular treatment of the concept of movement. Germant does not create a «plot» road; rather, he portrays the image of a journey as an existential trial—one capable of revealing the state of time, humanity, and nationhood. For him, movement becomes a means of speaking about trauma, memory, and the country’s historical experience. The journey itself becomes a distinctive language through which the director expresses the emotional and historical truth of his characters.
This visual study is dedicated to analyzing the motif of the journey across three films by Germán, which I selected intentionally. These films span three distinct eras of Russian history: «Check on the Roads”—the years of the Great Patriotic War; „My Friend Ivan Lapshin”—the pre-war 1930s; and „Khrustalev, Machine!”—the Stalinism of the early 1950s. These periods do not merely provide a different historical backdrop; in each one, Germán constructs the space of movement in his own unique way, allowing us to see how the very nature of the journey changes according to time. By examining how the director shapes the space of transit under various historical circumstances, one can better understand what he imparts to the image of the journey and why this motif became one of the most central to his cinema. Therefore, I divide the study into three chapters: [01] The Journey in War, [02] The Journey Without Movement, [03] The Journey Through Hell. This division is not so much structural as it is semantic. Each of these forms reveals a distinct mode of human existence under the pressure of the era.
Addressing the motif of the journey allows me to discern the director’s hidden logic—a logic in which movement is always tethered to the search for support, whether that support is memory, human connection, or the attempt to preserve dignity. By studying these trajectories, I aim to understand what meanings Hermann embeds within the very structure of cinematic space and why the journey becomes his way of addressing human vulnerability.
The objective of this visual study is to analyze how the motif of the journey functions in the films of Alexey German Sr.—how the director transforms movement into an autonomous expressive tool, and why, for him, the journey becomes the key to comprehending an era. I aim to understand precisely how German constructs visual, plastic, and spatial solutions that allow the viewer to literally feel the motion—its resistance, its viscosity, its halting, or its violent surge. The research focuses on how the journey in German’s films transforms into a metaphor for human existence within the historical reality of the 20th century.
[01] The Path in War
«Road Check, ” 1971, directed by Alexey German
At the very beginning of «Roadside Check, ” Hermann vividly captures the movement of a military vehicle whose tires spin in thick mud, barely managing to propel the machine forward. This single shot immediately emphasizes the physical strain of the journey and the complete lack of proper roadways.
«Checking the Roads, ” 1971, directed by Alexey German
«Road Check, ” 1971, directed by Aleksey German
German translates this motif of viscosity and slowness onto the movement of people. Troops on horse-drawn carts carry wounded and fallen comrades. The necessity of dragging such sleds intensifies the feeling of the journey’s weight—the animals are broken just as the people are.
«On the Roads,» 1971, directed by Aleksey German
«Road Check, ” 1971, directed by Alexey German
«Road Check, ” 1971, directed by Alexey German
Among the partisans are elderly, frail, exhausted people, women, and young children. All of them endure pain and exertion. The grueling movement transforms their journey into a struggle against space, time, and their own bodies.
«Road Check, ” 1971, directed by Alexey German
The journey is also unpredictable. When the characters are in motion, the viewer feels an internal tension. Throughout the film, it is impossible to predict when the squad will be attacked or whose death will come next.
«Roadside Check, ” 1971, directed by Alexey German
«Roadside Check,» 1971, directed by Alexey German
«Road Check,» 1971, directed by Aleksei German
German intentionally leaves the viewer in suspense. The camera either follows the soldiers through the scope, forcing us to see them as vulnerable as their enemy does, or adversaries suddenly emerge from the mist and instantly kill one of the fighters. People are constantly running, trying to escape—movement becomes an act of survival.
«Checking on the Roads, ” 1971, dir. Alexey German
«Road Checks, ” 1971, directed by Alexey German
When the main character Lazarev is traveling, the camera seems to follow him, capturing his movement from behind. This angle underscores the ambiguity and complexity of his moral journey.
«Road Check, ” 1971, directed by Alexey German
«On the Roads,» 1971, directed by Alexei German
«Road Check, ” 1971, directed by Alexey German
In some episodes, Hermann shows a close-up of the protagonist’s thoughtful, strained face. These shots reveal that Lazarev’s journey is not merely a physical movement, but a difficult internal transition. The meaning of this dual movement is reflected in the characters' dialogue while traveling: " — You chose the wrong path, kid. — I didn’t choose it; it found me.» (Ivan Lokotkov, Alexander Lazarev, «Road Test»). This phrase allows the viewer to understand that the path the hero is on was not his conscious choice, but a forced and morally arduous journey. «The decision, made in a moment of weakness, to avoid death at any cost is soon reassessed by Lazarev as misguided: this conflict with his inherent worldview leads the hero to 'discover a personal core he hadn’t previously suspected. It becomes clear that only the hero himself, and no one else, can decide how to live now with his own discovery'» (Ziborova, 2024, 348).
