SECHA PRI KERZHENTSE

Película de animación frescos antiguos, iconos y miniaturas de los siglos XII a XIV para describir la invasión tártara y la victoriosa resistencia de los soldados rusos frente a las murallas de Kerzhenets. El tema principal está sacado de un fragmento de la Historia de la ciudad perdida de Kitez, de Rimsky-Korsakov, una antigua leyenda representada en la cultura rusa por artistas de la talla de Sergei Esenin.

The film is set to music by Rimsky-Korsakov and uses Russian frescoes and paintings from the 14th-16th centuries. The story is based on the legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh (made into a 4-act opera by Rimsky-Korsakov in 1907), which disappears under the waters of a lake to escape an attack by the Mongols (Russia was under the Mongol-Tartar yoke for a period of three centuries in the Middle Ages). The film itself follows the legend only loosely, however, and its highpoint is a battle between the Russian soldiers and the Mongol hordes, symbolizing a clash of cultures (the Virgin Mary appears early in the film, in effect watching over the Russian side of the battle).