White Nights (Special Edition)

Old movie but an awesome one watching two amazing dancers from different styles mesh their genius.

Taylor Hackford's "White Nights" is definitely one of my favorite movies ever. I signed up like two years ago to be notified of the release of this movie on DVD and bought it right away when it became available on Amazon. Nikolai Rodchenko (Mikhail Baryshnikov) is a young and somewhat spoiled Russian ballet legend whose multiple successes in his motherland couldn't match his need for freedom and a life outside the unbearable perennial watch of the Soviet communist regime. So he chooses to defect to the United States where he becomes a major celebrity at the height of the Cold War tensions between the two countries. When traveling from London to Tokyo for a series of presentations, Rodchenko's plane malfunctions and is forced to perform an emergency landing on Russian soil. Nikolai will eventually be caught by the KGB and taken secretly back to Leningrad despite protests from the West. Being as he is, a glory of the Russian ballet, Rodchenko is forced to stay in the URSS and to resume his life as usual. He is put under strict surveillance by the KGB and assigned an accompanying couple, the Greenwood's, who are supposed to inform Rodchenko's whereabouts 24/7 to the soviet intelligence. Raymond Greenwood (Gregory Hines) is an African American tap dancer who tired of living a life of struggle for social and economic betterment in the U.S., voluntarily chose to very publicly "defect" to the URSS in opposition to the War in Vietnam. However flashy his "defection" was -and utterly publicized by the Russians- years have passed and Raymond is now just limited to small performances in little towns around Siberia, still living the life of an underprivileged man, but in the URSS. He married Darya (Isabella Rossellini), a Russian girl who loves him adoringly but who also, to much of her dismay, sometimes cannot hold up against Raymond's frustrations and personal demons. Interaction between Nikolai and Raymond becomes the main subject of the film and Nikolai will make Raymond realize how limited and hopeless life is in the URSS and eventually the three of them will seek a way to return to the United States. The film shows beautiful moving scenes such as the one where a drunk Raymond opens himself up to Nilokai in a heartfelt tap-dance-backed-up monologue, giving an impressively moving and honest performance. It shocks me everytime I watch it. Or my other favorite dancing scene, where Nilokai meets his former lover Galina Ivanova (Helen Mirren) at the stage of the Kirov Theater. Galina has now become a prominent figure of the Soviet Ballet nomenklatur. Together they will reminish about past love and life, and dancing to the passionate lyrics of Vladimir Vysotsky a famous Russian protest poet-singer, Nikolai will desperately and hopelessly try to explain her (and perhaps once more, also to himself) why he had to leave his whole life behind. In the process, he will also try to ease the inner pain of longing for his roots, history and identity. Dancing sequences performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines (both solos and as an ensemble) are incredibly moving and beautiful. Choreographies are Baryshnikov's, Hines's and even there is an incredibly moving opening segment choreographed by Twayla Tharp "The young man and the death" performed by Baryshnikov himself and Florence Faure who will leave you speechless. The music is great (I particularly remember the sticky rhythmic beat of "My love is chemical" by Lou Reed). Despite the obvious age that the picture shows "White Nights" is a beautiful movie, with spectacular dancing sequences, definitely worth watching. Personally to me it is certainly a pity that the whole story is still as appealing as it was twenty years ago. Forced migration was certainly an issue back then in 1985 as it continues to be today. Still in 2007 there are people who are virtually obligated to migrate from their own countries when civil liberties are not in force or about to perish. Just turn your head and watch the horrific example of Cuban "balseros", people who prefer to risk their lives in shark-infected waters seeking the coast of Florida instead of living a freedomless life of craving and need under the communist regime of Fidel Castro. So yes, in a time of a suppousedly "end of ideologies", "White Nights" is a movie that has a well established political posture and yet is also undeniably interesting and moving to watch and enjoy time and time again.

Happy

"White Nights" was a modest hit when released in 1986, and received a DVD release about a dozen years later, then sank from sight, seldom showing up on TV, and pretty much forgotten. That is a shame, because the film holds up upon re-examination. The overall plot is nothing extraordinary, a slight twist on previous Cold War spy films, with the protagonist a ballet dancer instead of a secret agent, but is enhanced by Mikhail Baryshnikov playing a role only slightly removed from his own life. The script is a bit clunky and lacks subtlety; this is not one of director Taylor Hackford's best films (although it may be his favorite, as he met wife Helen Mirren on set). The cast, on the other hand, is incredible (although not always well used), featuring Baryshnikov as a defector unexpectedly caught back in the Soviet Union, Gregory Hines as an American defector who has been used and then discarded by the Soviets for his propaganda value, Helen Mirren as the ballerina and lover left behind, Isabella Rossellini as Hine's Russian wife, the great Polish director/actor Jerzy Skolimowski as the KGB officer, Geraldine Page as Baryshnikov's manager, and John Glover as a CIA agent trying to get him out. There are some great dance sequences in the film, but it is not a dance film. The real lure is Baryshnikov playing a danseur caught in his worst nightmare, trapped in his birth country where he is now considered a criminal, at a time when Baryshnikov was actually considered a criminal by the Soviets. Because of that, he could not return to the USSR, so the film was made in Finland, while a second unit filmed Russian exterior shots with a body double. Baryshnikov's real life drama being played out on screen adds a resonance to the film that keeps it as one of my guilty pleasures. The Blu-ray is nicely done, and a real step up from the DVD, so it is definitely the way to go.

This is a great movie that brings back memories of the 80s with the US against the USSR. Great acting, dancing and a good story line.

I ran across this streaming the other day and determined I had to have my own copy. It is SPECTACULAR: from the 80s and of course, "dated" politically, but it still shows some fine dancing, excellent acting, good directing.... and the injustice of totalitarian governments. I highly recommend the movie to ANYONE not just dancers.

Great movie

Wonderful to watch talented ballet and tap dancer.