This film is - first of all - for teens and their parents. It's about bullying. About being treated unfairly by your classmates.
The girl in the center of it all is nicknamed Scarecrow (or Chuchelo, in Russian). This role is played by Kristina Orbakaite (now a popular Russian singer) when she herself was a teenager. Yuri Nikulin, one of the greatest Russian actors (who has also been a clown in Moscow's legendary Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard for most of his life) plays here one of the best dramatic roles of his career.
The film was directed by Rolan Bykov, a talented actor himself, in 1975 in Russia (then USSR) and was a controversial at the time of its release.
It carries an important moral message and has a very human touch. Watch it with your older children and discuss it afterwards!
Audio track: Russian. Runtime: 120 minutes.
Format: DVD (NTSC). Viewable on a standard American DVD player or computer.
