10 Best Soviet Movies That You Should Watching Update 04/2024

Best Soviet Movies

1. The Cranes Are Flying

The Cranes Are Flying

When the war breaks out, a young couple is dating and strolling around Moscow. They are happy and planning to get married. Their paths diverge, with her remaining in Moscow and him being summoned to active duty. As a result of their separation, they suffer greatly. Is there any hope of a reunion?

Only one Soviet film has ever taken home the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and great director Mikhail Kalatozov has created an extraordinarily sad wartime drama with this one.

2. Irony of Fate

Symbolic of Russian New Year’s Eve. Every year on December 31st, television stations air this comedic special. Despite being 37 years old, he lives with his mother. Before New Year’s Eve, he and his buddies head to the banya to toast the coming year with a few beers. Because he’s been drinking too much, his pals accidentally put him on a flight to Leningrad instead of Moscow for New Year’s Eve…

In Soviet cinemas, the film was a huge box office success and was seen by 7 million people following its debut. People enjoy the excellent acting, hilarious tunes based on well-known poems, and lasting impressions. This movie even dares to make fun of stereotypically Soviet cities, apartment complexes, and even the furniture. A man waking up in a stranger’s flat has no idea what’s going on. There is an excessive amount of equality throughout the world.

3. Office Romance

Office Romance

A love story and an elegy to the office plankton, respectively (and a very anti-feminist thing). A statistical agency’s lowest boss is a lonely father of two. He’s a sweet, slightly unkempt man who merely hopes and prays for better days ahead. Old friends advise a clever scheme: He should make out with their female boss, win her heart, and get promoted as a result of his efforts. However, how can you approach a woman you’re terrified of and make eye contact with her? Also, how about a workaholic who is downright unattractive? However, she still appears to be a woman at heart.

One of the Soviet Union’s highest-grossing pictures, it won a State Prize, and Eldar Ryazanov, who created the script, had another hit.

4. Stalker

Sci-fi based on the Strugatsky Brothers’ Roadside Picnic novella. “Stalker” is an unlicensed tour guide who lures unsuspecting tourists into the Zone, a haunted area known for its ghostly encounters. Inside this Zone, there is a secret chamber where all of your wishes can come true. He has two clients, a professor and a writer who believe the chamber will help them overcome their creative blocks. Is it possible that their minds are too feeble to withstand the energies of the supernatural? How if one of them has an ulterior motive for this journey?

The film is one of Andrei Tarkovsky’s greatest works and usually appears on lists of the greatest movies of all time. In Cannes, it took home the Ecumenical Jury Prize.

5. Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears

Despite the fact that this is an anti-feminist film, it actually shows that family is the source of every woman’s pleasure, even if she is a powerful businesswoman. A young woman from a rural area travels to Moscow to further her education. She is extremely cautious and quiet, yet because of her socially active pals, she shows up to a raucous party. She falls pregnant after a playboy Muscovite seduces her. When it comes down to it, he doesn’t want to get married and has no intention of having any children. In the end, she emerges as a strong, accomplished woman after descending into despair. For the first time in a long time, she meets him.

In 1981, the film received an Oscar nomination for best foreign film. Even though Ronald Reigan is said to have watched this film in an attempt to better understand Russians before meeting Mikhail Gorbachev, the film didn’t help him – but maybe it can benefit you.

6. White Bim Black Ear

If you’ve cried your eyes out while seeing Hachiko, you’ll need two napkins and two handkerchiefs. This movie will leave you in tears. A white Gordon Setter dog with a black ear was born with the wrong hue. Bim is adopted by a young man who takes him hunting. Bim is ecstatic about his new love and is completely smitten. When the man is taken to the hospital, Bim rushes to find him…

In 1979, the picture received an Oscar nomination. Birch trees and Soviet-era aesthetics together to create one of the greatest films of all time.

7. Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven (aka Queen of the Gypsies)

Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven

This is a passionate musical drama. The two gypsies fall in love, but neither wants to give up their independence, so they decide not to be married instead. With the police and the Gypsy camp where he loves, he is both a horse-thief and a criminal. What should these Romeo and Juliet do in order to maintain their relationship??

On Maxim Gorky’s short stories, which are based on the legends of the Caucasus, the film is based on.

The Romanov Theater’s gypsy performers make an appearance in the film, and we now have their tragic music and melodies to thank for it (and 64 million Soviet citizens watched it and liked it too).

8. Heart of a Dog

A professor of medicine is known for his daring experiments. A human brain is implanted into an abandoned dog’s body (and this way saves the dog from the pound and death). Even though he’s a caricature of a Soviet worker, the dog transforms into a person in the new Soviet state. A dog’s heart still beats in spite of its human brain. What will the professor do with the creature he’s created?

The legendary film based on Bulgakov’s short story of the same name, which proved even more popular than the novel it was adapted from. Idioms derived from the film’s dialogue become commonplace across the country. Aside from that, because it was released at the same time as the book was finally allowed to be published after a long Soviet ban, the movie had the same effect as a bomb. And making fun of the early years of the Soviet Union during the perestroika period was both rare and extremely pleasant.

9. War and Peace

War and Peace

On the verge of war with Napoleon’s France in 1805, Russia is on the verge of conflict. High society is aware of the threat. Adults prepare for a life of struggle, but young people choose to remain carefree and naive. Dramatic fighting scenes are seen in the film, which chronicles a number of families’ experiences throughout World War II. At the conclusion, how many characters are left?

The best foreign film award went to this film both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes. Furthermore, this is the best ever showing of the legendary Toltoy’s epic novel and one of the most epic-scale Soviet films.

10. Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (aka Ivan Vasilyevich: Back to the Future)

It is a dream of a young Soviet scientist to build a time machine. Isn’t it strange that no one believes in him? Unfortunately, by doing so, he conjures up images of his next-door neighbor as Ivan the Terrible, complete with an apartment burglary. Moreover, the real Ivan the Terrible arrives in the Soviet Union (and likes what he finds in modern Moscow a lot). How long will he be gone?