The Rainbow

Mark Donskoy was already an established, Stalin Award-winning artist when he created his inspirational masterpiece Raduga, a depiction of life in a Nazi-occupied Ukrainian village that refuses to have its spirit crushed. The cruel Germans try everything to this end: they humiliate, starve, hang, torture, and shoot the civilians, but Soviet hearts and minds remain red. Amidst this sea of collective suffering, the figure of a former partisan named Olga rises. She has returned to the village to bear a child, only to endure the ultimate sacrifice. Soviet authorities used Raduga not only to boost the domestic morale, they also instantly exported the film as a reminder of Soviet suffering. American president Franklin Roosevelt was allegedly so moved by Raduga that he wrote Donskoy a personal letter. Different sources cite different words of American admiration; in the best version, FDR declares the following: “Soviets are fighting not only for Russian mothers and children, but also for American mothers and children.” (Viennale)