Synopsis

Yevgeni Franzevich Bauer, originally of Bohemian descent, was one of the most important directors of pre-revolutionary Russia and decisively influenced the subsequent high-quality filmmaking of the country. Thus, for example, the brilliant later director Lev Kuleshov worked as a set designer for Bauer. This short war propaganda film, made in 1914 – the same year as his social drama Silent Witnesses – is barely known these days, but it shows Bauer’s excellent qualities as a director. The title Glory to Us, Death to the Enemy sounds very martial, but in fact Bauer treats the heroic theme rather ironically. It’s about a young war bride, whose husband was sent to the front. She herself decides to work as a nurse and to serve the patriotic cause. The interesting and unusual thing about the short film is that the events are shown almost entirely from her perspective, that of a woman. The war is portrayed as terrible, with all the sadness and suffering it causes. The nurse has to ward off the assault of a soldier who tries to rape her. She wounds him and then puts on his uniform to carry out the important mission he was assigned to do.