---
title: "Dear Comrades!"
year: 2020
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/dear-comrades"
fi1m_id: "dear-comrades"
imdb_id: "tt10796286"
tmdb_id: 587609
wikidata_id: "Q85859809"
fi1m_score: 82
critics_score: 78
critics_reviews: 15
published: "2026-10-03T01:17:19.603256+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-03T01:17:20.090397+00:00"
region: "VN"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Dear Comrades! (2020)

Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky · 2h 01m · History, Drama

## Identity

Dear Comrades!

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/dear-comrades
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** dear-comrades
- **IMDb ID:** tt10796286
- **TMDB ID:** 587609
- **Wikidata ID:** Q85859809
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10796286/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/587609, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q85859809

**Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 78 from 15 reviews

*In a sentence:* The workers would like a word with the workers’ state

> Andrei Konchalovsky makes state violence frightening through the officials who excuse it, with Yuliya Vysotskaya giving political loyalty a painfully human cost. The later drama wanders, but the cruelty of the bureaucracy stays with us.

## Synopsis

In the Soviet Union, Lyudmila ‘Lyuda’ Danilovna Semina (Yuliya Vysotskaya) is a devoted Communist confronted with a workers’ protest. She places her faith in the party as the authorities prepare their response to the unrest. Her family includes her daughter Svetka (Yulia Burova) and her father (Sergei Erlish), but political allegiance determines how she sees the people demanding change. Lyuda wants order restored and the system she believes in defended. As the confrontation grows, her loyalty to the state and her love for her daughter become increasingly difficult to reconcile.

## Review

Andrei Konchalovsky approaches a workers’ protest from the uncomfortable position of a woman who believes in the authorities confronting it. Lyuda is a devoted Communist, and the film asks us to stay close to her without agreeing with her. We recommend this severe, absorbing drama for the way it makes that loyalty intelligible, although its later passages are less sharply organised. There is humour here too, directed at officials who seem more disturbed by disagreement than by what has caused it.

Yuliya Vysotskaya gives Lyuda an obstinacy that prevents her becoming an easy object of sympathy. Political allegiance matters to this woman, even when it asks something appalling of her, and Vysotskaya does not soften that awkwardness. Her restraint is essential: the conflict between Communist conviction and maternal love has force because neither attachment looks disposable. We can disagree with Lyuda and still believe that she has spent a life trying to be right.

Andrey Naydenov shoots in black and white within the narrow Academy frame, with carefully arranged compositions that let us examine the people exercising power. The formality suits officials accustomed to being obeyed, and it makes their response to resistance harder to dismiss as a moment of chaos. Irina Ochina’s production design helps make that official world feel established, giving the bureaucracy a credible setting without competing for our attention. The period detail never seems more important than the people occupying the frame.

We were horrified by the crackdown on the workers, particularly by the composure with which the film presents the state’s violence. Konchalovsky does not need frantic direction to make the danger felt. The calmness leaves us looking at what is being done instead of waiting for the next visual shock. It is an effective use of historical drama, allowing the authorities’ behaviour to frighten us without a running explanation of how we ought to feel.

The screenplay, by Elena Kiseleva and Andrei Konchalovsky, is shrewd about the distance between professed concern for workers and the treatment of actual workers. Its humour helps, allowing official certainty to become ridiculous before it becomes terrifying. There are speeches, though, where the position is clear well before the speaking stops. They flatten the officials into spokespeople, leaving Vysotskaya to supply much of the film’s uncertainty through a performance that does not settle for illustrating the dialogue.

Editors Sergey Taraskin and Karolina Maciejewska preserve the early tension without making every scene hurry towards an outburst. Later, that patience becomes less productive, and some passages linger after their emotional purpose is clear. At 121 minutes, the film has room to test Lyuda’s loyalties from several angles, but it sometimes repeats the test. The repetition matters because the performance has already made her divided feelings comprehensible; further insistence does not always deepen our understanding of them.

Historical dramas can make righteousness too comfortable, particularly when the audience knows it is watching an atrocity. Konchalovsky avoids that comfort by asking us to take Lyuda’s allegiance seriously, and by not treating our disapproval as a sufficient response. The film is strongest when her stubbornness makes sympathy difficult. Watch it for Vysotskaya, and allow for stretches where the writing cannot quite match the performance.

*Fi1m score 82, published 3 October 2026.*

## Straight answers

**How long is Dear Comrades!, and what is it rated?**

*Dear Comrades!* runs 2h 01m. It is a history and drama film.

**Where can I watch Dear Comrades! in Vietnam?**

*Dear Comrades!* is not on any streaming or rental service in Vietnam at the moment. It is available in 18 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**What should I watch after Dear Comrades!?**

After *Dear Comrades!*, try [*The Official Story*](https://film.one/film/the-official-story) (1985, Fi1m 81): Another woman’s political certainty becomes impossible to separate from her family. Then [*The Lives of Others*](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-others) (2006, Fi1m 84): For state surveillance made frightening through routine work and compromised loyalties; and [*The Battle of Algiers*](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers) (1966, Fi1m 93): A wider view of repression, with crowds given their own force.

### Reviews we read (15)

- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (5/5): Bradshaw calls the film a rage-filled triumph and a passionate drama of fear. He praises its stark re-creation of the massacre and its depiction of the bureaucracy and secrecy surrounding it. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/14/dear-comrades-review-andrei-konchalovsky-yuliya-vysotskaya)
- **Variety**, Jessica Kiang (95/100, inferred): Kiang praises the film as a meticulously crafted and compassionate reclamation of a suppressed massacre. She especially singles out the stark black-and-white cinematography and its carefully composed frames. [Read](https://variety.com/2020/film/reviews/dear-comrades-review-andrei-konchalovsky-1234761044/)
- **The i Paper**, Geoffrey Macnab (90/100, inferred): Macnab calls the film powerful and affecting, praising its vivid depiction of the Soviet system from within. He singles out Julia Vysotskaya’s searing performance as a grief-stricken woman torn between political loyalty and love for her daughter. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/dear-comrades-review-russias-entry-oscars-immense-power-828785)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (90/100, inferred): Lane calls the film Konchalovsky’s masterpiece and praises its calm, controlled artistry. He singles out Julia Vysotskaya’s deeply affecting performance as a devoted Communist driven to search for her daughter amid the massacre’s aftermath. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/01/04/dear-comrades-is-andrei-konchalovskys-masterpiece)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (85/100, inferred): Chang gives the film a strongly positive verdict as a clear-eyed and visually striking reckoning with historical repression. He especially praises Julia Vysotskaya’s performance and the film’s depiction of the government’s swift, comprehensive cover-up. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-02-09/review-dear-comrades-review-andrei-konchalovsky)
- **Time Out**, Phil de Semlyen (4/5): The review praises the historical drama as gripping and sharply angry toward the Soviet system. It singles out its bitter laughs and icy fury. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/dear-comrades)
- **IndieWire**, Eric Kohn (B): Kohn finds the film a fiery, suspenseful drama that gives the massacre a human face. He especially praises its assured visual composition and the way Lyudmila’s search exposes her conflicting loyalties. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/dear-comrades-review-thrilling-soviet-drama-puts-a-human-face-on-russian-massacre-1234584765/)
- **Sight and Sound**, BFI (70/100, inferred): The review sees the film as a compelling dramatisation of a state atrocity and its cover-up. It praises the monochrome, Academy-ratio style while noting that the period pastiche is not the film’s main purpose. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/dear-comrades-2020-andrei-konchalovsky-1962-novocherkassk-massacre-drama)
- **Screen Daily**, Jonathan Romney (64/100, inferred): The page identifies this as a Venice review, but the review text is behind a registration paywall. Its verdict and specific praise or criticism are not available in the accessible page. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/dear-comrades-venice-review/5152575.article)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The page could not be read, so the critic’s verdict and any specific praise or complaint cannot be verified. The URL identifies the item as a review of the matching film. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/24/movies/dear-comrades-review.html)
- **Slant Magazine**, Jake Cole (2.5/4): Cole finds the film effective in its depiction of the Soviet party’s response to a workers’ protest, but says its second half grows meandering and emotionally muted. He praises the harrowing portrayal of the state crackdown and the ironic final turn toward Soviet-cinema style. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review-dear-comrades-takes-on-the-soviet-system-old-school-style/)
- **The AV Club**, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky (C): Vishnevetsky argues the film turns a massacre into nationalist political spin and is weakened by static direction and flat speeches. He singles out the opening stretch’s humor and the later tension as welcome strengths. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/russia-s-oscar-hopeful-dear-comrades-is-spin-disguised-1846181391)
- **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (95/100, inferred): Kermode calls the film a powerful tribute to the massacre’s victims and urges viewers not to miss it. She especially praises Yuliya Vysotskaya’s restrained performance and the film’s precise, shifting cinematography. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/dear-comrades-2020-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)
- **Deadline**, Anna Smith (85/100, inferred): Smith finds the film devastating and meticulously crafted, though it starts slowly before building into intense political drama. She especially praises Yuliya Vysotskaya’s complex, remarkable performance at its center. [Read](https://deadline.com/2021/02/dear-comrades-review-russia-oscar-entry-international-critics-line-1234689696/)
- **The Playlist** (64/100, inferred): The page is blocked, so the critic’s verdict cannot be determined. No praise or complaint is accessible. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/dear-comrades-venice-review-20200908/)

## Details

- **Director:** Andrei Konchalovsky
- **Director:** Andrei Konchalovsky
- **Screenplay:** Andrei Konchalovsky, Elena Kiseleva
- **Cinematography:** Andrey Naydenov
- **Editor:** Karolina Maciejewska, Sergey Taraskin
- **Production design:** Irina Ochina
- **Costume design:** Konstantin Mazur, Dmitry Andreev
- **Producer:** Andrei Konchalovsky, Alisher Usmanov
- **Cast:** Yuliya Vysotskaya as Lyudmila 'Lyuda' Danilovna Semina; Sergei Erlish as Lyuda's father; Yulia Burova as Svetka; Andrey Gusev as Viktor; Vladislav Komarov as Oleg Nikolaevich Loginov; Dmitry Kostyaev; Вячеслав Пигарев; Владимир Бабаев
- **Runtime:** 2h 01m
- **First release (Italy):** 7 September 2020
- **Genres:** History, Drama
- **Budget:** $2 million
- **Box office:** $296,974
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdBp0KktXpk

## Where to watch in Vietnam

Not streaming, renting or buying in Vietnam at the last check.

Also available in: AR, BE, BR, CA, CL, CO, DK, FI, FR, GB, IE, JP, MX, NL, NO, PA, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- International Submission to the Academy Awards 2021: International Submission to the Academy Awards (nominated)
- Meeting Point Europe Award 2021: Meeting Point Europe Award (won)

## If you liked this

- *The Official Story* (1985), Fi1m 81: Another woman’s political certainty becomes impossible to separate from her family. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-official-story.md)
- *The Lives of Others* (2006), Fi1m 84: For state surveillance made frightening through routine work and compromised loyalties. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-others.md)
- *The Battle of Algiers* (1966), Fi1m 93: A wider view of repression, with crowds given their own force. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers.md)
- *A Separation* (2011), Fi1m 93: Another family drama where convictions complicate every attempt to do right. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-separation.md)
- *The Confession* (1970): A committed Communist confronts a system determined to manufacture his guilt.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/dear-comrades