The Edge

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Audience Member I'm with Jim Hunter on this one: I too don't really understand this film but would like to know more. I have a lot of questions and perhaps there are people out there who may know the answer. Overall, I would like to know what the underlying 'meaning' of the film is (why did they make it in the first place)? But I have more specific questions. Here's just one: the camp commander (when he returned) said that Stalin was kind to place all those captured by the Germans away from other Soviet people, as they would be killed: is there any truth in this? Were even returning Soviet PoWs really seen as traitors? Despite the fact I didn't understand the whole, there were some sections that were interesting. When Sophie was asked why she had preferred Stepan to her previous boyfriend she said 'there were more devils in him' ... always interesting for men to understand why they sometimes lose in love! The mist of mystery that covers the film may hide things that start to look a little silly in the cool light of hindsight. The fact that Sophie's 'trophy' German child suddenly cheered up when he once more heard his mother tongue was a tad sentimental. And how did that German girl survive for more than four years on her own? Maybe I'm being a spoil sport on this ... the film's worth watching, in any case. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member There might be an allegory in here that resonated with Russian audiences without fully translating to international film-goers. There's a perception of control from the absent Fishman, and there's the chaos of main the character, who has some sort of brain trauma. As new people inhabit this makeshift settlement, they upset the uneasy calm and help expose how awful humanity can be. In addition, trains and their engineers try to outdo each other for power, prowess and some semblance of pride. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member A Soviet train engineer hooks up with a German woman in the Siberian hinterland -- much to the disapproval of his Soviet compatriots. I'll start by saying that I'm not sure that I fully understand this film; I think that one might need a more extensive knowledge of Russian post-war history than I have in order to understand this film's context. I can only respond to what I see, which is a hyper-masculine world of competition and an environment of anti-German prejudice. These two themes are explored in the main relationship, but whether the film is critiquing, lauding, or merely presenting these aspects of Russian post-war life is still unclear to me. I can also say that I didn't enjoy the film. There wasn't a lot to like, and I had trouble following it. All of the characters are undesirable people. Overall, as I believe I made clear, I wasn't able to get a good handle on this film. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member Watched it 3 times without subtitles. Still love it. Had a chance to watch a part of it with subtitles and chose to continue without: they took away from the magnificence of the pictures. Love the camera work. If I watch it some more, I start speaking Russian! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member interesting look at brutality and masculinity, but it's more of an assemblence of events than an actual movie. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member I loved the middle and end to this film, but the beginning made no sense to me. The train sequences were amazing... Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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