Loyalty

Memory of Peter Efimovich Todorovsky

He is one of those who were not afraid to be in the minority. Although he belonged to a generation, who was accustomed to walk in the line and in the leg, generation, fried ideology and slogans. To say no, when everyone says “yes”, do not raise their hands among the forests of soaring hands, refuse to put a signature where thousands signed before you - any deviation from the norm of the majority put you in a series of unreliable, at best.

He is one of those who erupted in truth through the chatter party congresses and bravura marches of labor victories and physical education parades. He is one of those who, along with millions of compatriots, prayed for a tyrant, not noticing either black funnels or people disappearing in them. He is one of those who went to the war as a boy and proudly repeated his whole life: “I am an infantry! Do you understand? Infantry!"

The war did not let him go until the very last minutes. May 9 - a sacred holiday, a spell of vodka, a parade, packets, meetings in the square ... But he always knew the real price of this victory and therefore devoted his first film “Fidelity” to his comrade who died from a sniper bullet at the very end of the war. He is one of those lieutenants about whom Mikhail Kulchitsky wrote: “I used to think:“ Lieutenant ”sounds like this: pour us!” He will say about the war - "Happy Time." Who can so say? The one who was there. Seeing a man with a movie camera there, at the front, he swore to himself - if I am alive, I will make a movie. And he became.

He has an amazing, absolutely separate view of the world and people in it. He found poetry and joy where, it would seem, they had no place at all.

He knew how to hear the melody, music where others heard only roar and mat. And his music always won.

He is one of those whom you can’t say - successful, in demand, popularly beloved. In general, the concept of “success” is not applicable to it. Because he took out his every picture from himself, from his heart, from his personal experience, not trying to please anyone. Highness, narcissism, self -love - this is not all about him. So, it seems, to the end he himself did not understand what scale and depth this artist is Peter Todorovsky. Everything chuckled, made fun of himself, did not hesitate to admit publicly: "I am the director is uneven." The "folk" cinema shot once-the Soviet mass viewer mainly knows him as the author of the "interview". He himself treated this work with a great share of the irony and, among his main paintings, called four: “Fidelity”, “Military Field Roman”, “Anchor, still Anchor!” And "what a wonderful game." For each of them he received in full - denoting, falsification, mockery of Soviet history. And he lived this story, personally, and therefore he perceived all the honorable letters and denunciations in his address as his heroes: experiencing a bitter sense of shame. For the country, for people, during the time, who crippled both people and the country.

His last film was the toughest and most controversial: “Riorite” is the story of a monster whose name is “a real Soviet man”, a by -product of the excretion of the very great community. Sex, provocateur, scammer, executioner, envious and coward. This sentence was not forgiven - the film did not work out, was shown on television, received a very restrained assessment of criticism and another portion of indignation from fake veterans and false patriots.

This picture - so unlike its former, filled with light and hope - we still have to evaluate, because for him it was the most painful, the most personal, the most difficult. “The memory of the survived fears” is its original name, it was such an inscription in the photo that the front -line comrade left him. So he wrote to a friend Pete on the back of the cards, which depicts the brave lieutenant of the Soviet army: "In memory of the survived fears."

He has a wonderful family - the wife of the world, beauty, muse, fighter, defender, producer and director. The son of Valery, a subject of special pride, director, handsome, fighter. He has wonderful friends, many of whom passed away ... Now he returned to his circle, to his near circle - where is the guitar, Valusk, Skalikov’s poems, Okudzhava's busts and the smile of Zyama Gerdt. Pyotr Efimych lived a happy, honest, courageous life. And let him know that we know about it.

Photo: ITAR-TASS