Women of Ryazan

"Baby Ryazanskie" ( Women Of Ryazan ) (1927) is a very remarkable and exceptional silent film directed by Dame Olga Preobrazhenskaya, a Russian woman filmmaker with a short but intense career and who was considered a feminist pioneer in the Russian film industry. This film was shot in the district of Ryazan and exceptionally photographed by Herr Konstantin Kuznetsov, and abounds with lyrical and beautiful images which high light the drama that Anna, the main character, must undergo. The film might have been a simple country story, one of those folk oeuvres beautifully filmed that takes pleasure in the landscape but neglects the story telling. Happily that is not the case of "Baby Ryazanskie" because although the Ryazan district and the way of life of their peasants are important subjects in the film, Dame Preobrazhenskaya tells a universal story with those local elements. Troubled family relationships and a stormy conflict of sentiments leading to tragic ending are conditions that know no boundaries because human nature is unpredictable, even in Russia.