Bread Day

In a hamlet fifty miles north of St. Petersburg a group of elderly people are the only stay-behinds. They are living almost completely isolated from the outside world, but once a week the train passes by that brings them their bread. An uncoupled carriage is pushed to the village by the old people themselves and the bread is unloaded. This ritual repeats itself every week, on Tuesdays, also called ‘bread day‘.With modest means, the Russian director Sergey Dvortsevoy has produced a perceptive portrait of this exceptional community and the unusual way in which they obtain and distribute the indispensable bread. In a protracted sequence, Dvortsevoy captures the unhooking of the carriage and the long, humiliating trip by half a dozen elderly people. The camera literally follows them in their tracks, as we hear the aged people moan and groan.In the hamlet itself, Dvortsevoy filmed a couple of stray animals, to emphasize the desolate character of this ghost village. The heart of this documentary is made up by a scene in the baker‘s shop, with the camera being positioned behind the counter, visible to everyone. Nobody is satisfied with the allotted portion of bread and the old shop assistant is called everything under the sun, but she gives the customers tit for tat. The camera is an unwanted intruder here, which is made clear verbally by one customer. The spectator, too, feels uncomfortable, but in the end we are reassured with a long drawn-out shot of a gorgeously red setting sun. Even in the most wretched of conditions, life is ugly and beautiful at the same time, Dvortsevoy seems to say to us.