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poetic and possibly most moving dialogue of all Dovz henko’s notes. ...Tell me that I am beautiful. My love. Why are you cry ing? No, I’m not crying. These are just tears. I feel fine with you. I’m happy. Now I am a woman. What is your name? Vasyl. Vasyl, mine is Sanya... They part before dawn in the cool dew of the orchard. Notebooks (1942) Dovzhenko reserves a third poetic and moving page for the young girl. Dated May 12,1946, the passage beg ins with the words “I had a dream” and presents three girls holding scythes; soon these girls symbolize the unfulfilled women whose lives were cut short by the war just as the stalks of grain were cut short from the earth that produced them. A few days later, on May 25, 1946 Dovzhenko makes another entry: now these three young maidens have become three widows harnessed to a plow. Dovzhenko draws his powerful images from the earth and the cycle of seasons. His descriptions are in a style almost reminiscent of biblical verses. I had a dream. Golden rye in the field wherever the eye looks. And a sky more blue and vivid than anything in real life. These were the skies and plains of Ukraine. In front amidst the rye stood three beautiful girls holding scythes. They were wwearing clothes that are no longer worn. And they were weeping silently. The skies, the field of grain, the sun, and the burning tears of three unfulfilled women. Notebooks (1946) There is power in numbers; “three” is reminiscent of the three basic elements of life on earth: air, fire and water. These were the three elements worshiped in pre-Chris tian times. Three is also reminiscent of the Trinity of the Christian religions: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In Dovzhenko’s scenario, renewal is metaphorically sym bolized by three women. The background is the earth. They are not angels, they are human beings, and they are “weeping silently.” Tears are very powerful, and there is no doubt that Dovzhenko — the artist and poet — wanted to use weeping in his movie about Women and Wars.” There are too many references to weeping and tears in his N otebooks to think otherwise. It is necessary to see people cry. And most of all, we need to weep with them; otherwise we will not change the cause of their weeping. By crying, we will not allow suffering to go on. Michelangelo’s Pieta which Dovzhenko never mentions by name but portrays through the Mother, calls for solidarity. The Mother says, “Weep with me so that it will not happen to your child.” Great works of art (sculptures and paintings), of music, and pieces of liter ature invite people to weep. Dovzhenko as filmmaker wished for a movie that would move people and make them cry with his Ukrainian women: the Mother, the Wife and the Sister. In conclusion, Dovzhenko, in his Notebooks, left sketches of statuesque images of women confronted with War. Dovzhenko’s intent is clearly to show women’s strenght, courage, determination, invincible spirit and role during the fight and in the rebirth of any country. In fact, he himself states in his notes of August 15, 1945, that he does not belong to Ukraine alone: As an artist, I belong to and serve all mankind. My art is universal. I shall live with goodness and love for mankind in my heart. Notebooks (1945) However, in the Ukrainian setting, he portrays women as responsible for the rebirth of the land and its people and he realizes that she remains the unsung hero. He undertakes to recognize her and place her on a long overdue pedestal, and he suggests a new agenda for her. Eternal glory to you, Aunty Yavdokha Pylypenko. You didn’t have any pretty shoes or expensive perfumes..silks or hats...You didn’t travel... You didn’t have the time. You were busy like a bee...until the enemy killed you. But men...will bow to your beauty, my dear mother, my Ukrainian woman...We’ll kiss your hands and dress you in fine clothes. We’ll send you to the best schools, so that your beauty may be enhanced by knowledge and nobility of spirit. We’ll see that all the tenderness inher ent in your nature is brought out. Notebooks (1942) As a man of the XXth century, Dovzhenko leaves in his N otebooks a legacy worth re-examining for the XXI- st century. In view of all the wars still being fought today, it is worth re-reading his diaries and especially his entries about women and their weeping, because Dovzhenko — the filmmaker — must have felt the power of tears. As a native of a country that has suffered so many wars and man-made famines, he must have felt that Ukraine was also blessed with a grace of tears which empowers her. Is it possible that through the depiction of "Women and War,” the Ukrainian filmmaker wanted to promote peace? Bibliography Dictionnaire de spiritualiteascetique et mystique. Paris: Beau- chesne, 1957. Carynnyk, Marco. Alexander Dovzhenko: The Poet as Film maker. Cambrige, MA: The MIT Press, 1973. Dovzhenko, Oleksandr. Zacharovana Desna: Kinopovist'. Kyiv: Molod’, 1976. Kepley, Vance. In The Service of the State: The Cinema of Alexander Dovzhenko. Madison, Wl.: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1986. Mayne, Judith. “Soviet Film Montage and the Woman Ques tion.” Camera Obscura: A Journal of Feminism and Film Theory (1989) Jan. v 19:25-52. ’НАШЕ Ж ИТТЯ”, ТРАВЕНЬ 1996 17
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