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A stirring film about a young woman in early-nineteenth-century Russia; rather tomboyish, she prefers riding to conventional feminine pursuits. When she goes to a fancy-dress ball dressed as an army cadet, news of Napoleon's invasion of Russia (1812) is announced. A dashing officer to whom she has been talking vows to go to the front to repel the French, the girl herself goes along too, as the officer assumes her to be a young soldier. She fights with distinction and is decorated with a medal by Alexander I.
The story is based on the true story of Nadezhda Durova, born in 1788. She served in the army under the name of Alexander Sokolov, and served in the Mariupol and Lithuanian cavalry regiments, fought well and even managed to save the life of an officer. After serving 10 years in the Russian army, Nadezhda Durova bade goodbye to her comrades in arms and spent the rest of her life living with her pets in a small house in Yelabuga.
She continued acting as a man in civilian life, and was even dancing the male parts at parties. She died in 1886 and was buried in a man's attire and with full military honours. Decades later, in 1940, Alexander Gladkov wrote a play about the "horse-riding lady" and then Eldar Ryazanov made this film about her.
HF May 2004
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