Cinema
Bastard
Synopsis
In the taiga, Burtaj is the son of the Orochon hunter Amgan and of a Russian woman, Taina: for his father's people, he is a bastard. Mortally wounded while hunting, Amgan asks him to join the hunters and not to let his mother's peasant blood speak in him. Burtaj falls in love with Aitanga, the daughter of a reindeer herder in debt to the wealthy peasant Iwan, who wants to marry her to his son Wasilj; a wolfdog named Wolk, raised by Aitanga, plays a decisive part in the story.
Context
A Norwegian-Swedish co-production released on 5 February 1940, known in Sweden under the title Vildmarkens sång. Lunde directed the hunting and nature scenes and Stevens the acted scenes, shot at the Norsk Film studios at Jar; the exteriors were filmed in Finland, at Kajaani, Salla and Suomussalmi, and in Valdres. Lunde, who had drawn the screenplay from a short story by F. W. Remmler, trained the wolfdog Volk himself.
Who it is for
An adventure film of one hour twenty-seven minutes, in black and white, shot in the forests of the Far North.
Prizes and reception
Distinguished at the Venice Mostra in 1941 as a recommended film.