Analysis of Larisa Shepitko's "Wings"

War Trauma and a Lost Hero

After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, Soviet culture was radically changed by Khrushchev Thaw, which resulted in a less strict environment and enabled more freedom for its film directors. Under Stalin’s rule, Socialist Realism was the standard rule for filmmakers, who were restricted to making films that depicted an unrealistically happy representation of Soviet life. Under the new Thaw era, censorship was greatly loosened, and filmmakers were now free to depict the individual struggles and plight or soviet citizens as a result of the many wars that the Soviets had taken part in, especially World War 2 (Condee, Nancy, 161). Previous Socialist Realist movies that depicted soviet citizens as excited and motivated for war such as singing about crushing the enemies with tanks as in Tractor Drivers (1939). The movies in the Thaw era showed the real sufferings that soldiers had endured both during and after the war. Examples of such movies include The Fate of a Man (1959), in which the main character, who was once a soldier in WW2, suffers from extreme symptoms of PTSD, such as insomnia, constant flashbacks, nightmares and traumatic memories of his dead family.

After the end of the Thaw era, when Leonid Brezhnev was in power, such a negative impact of war was still depicted in many movies such as Larisa Shepitko’s Wings (1966). What is interesting about this movie is that it depicted a female veteran which would have been very unlikely during the Thaw era, which sought to “re-align the heteronormativ[ity] of biological sex….and gender roles”(Dmytryk et al, 3). and pushed many women out of the well-paying jobs that they had during the Stalinist era. The Thaw era encouraged women to be solely homemakers while Stalin had burdened women with double roles; being a mother and serving the state such as by working in the army and the industry. The Era of Stagnation that occurred during Brezhnev’sopened even more doors for movie directors and was the era during which the most creativity and diversity was included in films, and it is this era in which Wings ​ was created.

The movie Wings presents a war veteran who is unable to adjust to her post-military life. She appears to be displaying symptoms of PTSD and depression which are shown through her constant flashbacks and instrusive thoughts, dissociation, emotional detachment from others, indecisiveness, depersonalization, as well as her suicide at the end of the film. The main character of this movie is named Nadezhda, or Nadia for short and throughout the film, she is remembering events from her past as a fighter pilot during WW11. Although she is a celebrated war hero, as shown by the ceremony in which she is awarded medals at the beginning of the film, and even with her current prestigious job as a headmistress of a vocational school, Shepitko depicts her as not reveling in these accomplishments, or in her present life. In fact, Nadia doesn't not appear to be fully mentally present in her current life. She is haunted by flashbacks and intrusive thoughts throughout the film, sometimes even unexpectedly. For example, as she's walking through town with a handful of grapes, it starts to rain, and she is initially happy about this, as she holds up the grapes to let them be washed. However, she notices that all the other citizens are running for cover and disappear from the streets within seconds. It appears that their frantic running reminded her of something unpleasant, most likely of people hiding during air raids and attacks during the war. A closeup of her face shows us her expression changing from one of happiness to one that can be described as uneasy as she is clearly frowning, with knitted eyebrows and the corners of her mouth are drooping. Furthermore, the rain that is streaming down her face symbolizes her tears. We are then shown a cobblestone path for 3 seconds, then the screen flashes back to Nadia’s face, which now shows an anguished expression, and the downpour of rain increases, symbolizing her increasing flow of tears and pain. The juxtaposition of the cobblestone path and her anguished face creates the impression that she is too scared to go down this path, which metaphorically stands for the path to her past. The camera then switches to a point of view screen, which starts to take us down this path, and this journey takes a long time, about 21 seconds as if to create suspense and leave the audience thinking about what could be troubling her? As the camera reaches the end of the path, and the scene then cuts to a man walking up a grassy hill towards us (the audience), who are seeing through Nadia’s eyes. We hear Nadia’s voice call out the man’s name, Mitia, who is her lover from the past.

The background depicts an expanse of grass and hills in the countryside, with a hospital in the background where Mitia is evidently staying, since he appears to have been wounded, judging from his walking stick. We walk along with Mitya and through Nadia’s voice, we engage in a very relaxed conversation that sounds almost like the two are talking in their sleep. Most importantly, we are gazing the entire time, almost worshipfully (through Nadia’s eyes) at Mitia’s face while he is talking. The camera films a series of short scenes of Mitia in different locations of the countryside, and each short scene is terminated with a still picture of him, before cutting to the next short sequence. For example, the film appears to freeze momentarily (as a still picture) after he made his way up the small hill of grass and takes a seat on a rock. The camera stills for a moment on his face before the camera continues taking us along the walk. The second still picture occurs again, this time of a full body picture of Pascha with his cane. The third still occurs while he is leaning over a well. The fourth still occurs while Pascha is leaning against an old wall of a destroyed monument. The fifth still occurs while he is laying on the grass. These still frames serve as mental pictures that Nadia has taken of him, and they are forever etched in her memory.

Nadia has another flashback, only this is time it is much more agonizing. While she is looking at younger pictures of herself in a museum, she becomes evidently upset, as she lowers her head momentarily, exhales then raises back her head back up to look at the ceiling instead, but she cannot distract herself from the pain and prevent her traumatic experience from replaying in her mind. The scene cuts to a plane that is falling through the sky, juxtaposed with a closeup view of Mitia’s panicky face, which also appears to be shaking and rocking back and forth, and the audience associates this second shot with the first, interpreting that it is Mitia who is in the falling plane. The next scene shows us a distant view of two planes now; one that is following after Mitia. The scene then cuts to a close-up view of Nadia’s face to show us her own terrified expression and thus, the audience knows that it is Nadia who is following after Mitia. The closeups of their facial expressions serve to create a sense of emotional proximity with the audience, as we can see just how upset the two characters are. These close-ups are juxtaposed with distant shots of the planes, which emphasize how unseizable the situation is, that is, completely out of anybody’s grasp. Indeed, there is nothing Nadia can do about Mitia, which is emphasized by a long shot of her plane circling around Mitia’s, lasting 30 seconds. This long sequence is meant to create the emotional tension in the viewers as they are forced to watch Mitia’s plane get progressively lower to the ground, as well as emphasize how serious the situation is. Before he inevitably crashes, we are shown another brief shot of Nadia’s hopeless face. Nadia’s flashback terminates with a final still-image of the Mitia’s burning plane on the ground. It is as if she took a picture which is forever burned inside her memory to haunt her) When Nadia isn't experiencing flashbacks of her trauma, she is still not mentally present throughout her daily life. She is experiencing dissociation, which is a common symptom of PTSD (Ozdemir, Osman, et al. 599). She’s constantly daydreaming when she’s alone, such as when she’s peeling potatoes, and when she’s sitting in the kitchen alone after her dinner with Pascha, the museum director who is in love with her. It is always the same daydream, that of a plane flying through the sky. Although she looks happy as she imagines herself flying through the clouds, a depressing reason for this is evident. The act of flying through the air is a symbol of freedom, and the serene music of a violin that accompanies these daydreams further emphasize how lovely they are and her longing for such a possibility of being free from the mental torment that her trauma has inflicted on her.

Sometimes, even when surrounded by other people, she still doesn't seem to be mentally present. For example, in a scene when she is riding on a bus a child calls out “mom look, a dog!” and all the passengers turn around to look, except for Nadia, who keeps staring at the front of the bus, with a glazed over expression, as if she’s unaware of her surroundings. Another sign of dissociation in people with PTSD is their lack of self-awareness, which is evident in her interactions with others; she does not seem to be self-aware, or aware of the effects of her awkward behaviour on others. For example, she shows up uninvited at her daughter Tanya’s apartment, where she and her partner Igor have just about finished hosting a party. She has never met Tanya’s boyfriend before and so she steals him away from the others, takes him into the kitchen and begins bombarding him with questions about his personal life, career and previous marriage as if it were some kind of exam, with one question right after the other, with each getting progressively more personal. She doesn't seem to understand his discomfort or be aware of how rude she’s acting. For example, she blatantly asks him how old he is and despite the fact that he is close to her own age, she treats him like a child, gesturing with a nod of her head for him to sit in a chair, as if he is a guest in her own house as opposed to her being a guest in his. She then proceeds to slice up a cake while holding the knife as if she is stabbing her enemy or digging up a trench, and doesn't notice Igor’s uncomfortable staring while she does this.

Another symptom of PTSD that Nadia appears to be exhibiting is emotional detachment. In fact, lack of empathy is often a symptom as shown in a psychological experiment by Nietlisbach et al (2010) in which the researcher found that people suffering from PTSD were less likely than those not suffering from PTSD to contract the empathic contagion of laughing and yawning. This implies that they have an impairment in the ability to share in the emotional experience of others. Likewise, Nadia shows the inability to emphasize with her students, which explains why she is hated by many of her students, and why she is the subject of many offensive caricatures on the walls of the school. She expels a boy named Vostriakov for fighting with his peers, and his girlfriend becomes too heart-broken to participate in a school show competition. Instead of trying to make the girl feel better, she starts chastising her, causing the girl to explode with emotional rage and run off. Nadia doesn't seem to care, and instead, takes the girl’s place and dresses in the Russian doll costume. Also, when Vostriakov returns back to the school to apologize for his behaviour, Nadia refuses to accept him back into the school, despite the hopeful looks of a large group of students who stand by to witness, as well as a teacher who gives Nadia a smile, encouraging her to rethink her action of expelling the boy. Everybody besides Nadia appears to be emphasizing with the boy, except for Nadia who refuses to accept his apology. When the mass of students and the teacher leave the office, Nadia starts talking about the boy’s brother who is a criminal and implies that Vostriakov is going to turn out just like him. Nadia does not give the boy a chance to improve, and even with his devastated expression, she smirks at him and asks him “why are you so arrogant?”. The boy leaves, and his girlfriend stays behind to cry. Nadia once again does not console her. In fact, she completely ignores her as she chats with another teacher, then leaves the office without a sign of regret. Her inability to feel sympathy for Vostriakov costs him his education, and now that he’s out of school, he will surely end up like his brother, but Nadia doesn’t seem to consider this.

Nadia also appears to be indecisive and hopeless about what to do with her life which is a common symptom of depression, which is often comorbid with PTSD (Di Schiena, Raffaella, et al. p.714). After her teaching hours, she appears to wander aimlessly through town, with no specific destination. In a very awkward scene, that appears to add nothing to the plot of the film, Nadia is shown watching a couple of divers practice their moves, but her boredom is evident as she throws back her head and closes her eyes as if in exasperation. She then proceeds to walk, slowly, almost hesitantly, and the soundtrack, which consists of an oboe or clarinet playing a slow melancholic music, serves to emphasize her desolation. The camera follows her, giving us a view of her side profile as she’s walking, and not showing us exactly where she is headed, because even the character doesn’t know where she’s headed! The camera follows her for 30 seconds as she’s walking, occasionally stopping, looking to her sides, then continuing with the walk. At last, she suddenly changes her bleak demeanor, squares back her shoulders while sliding off her jacket, revealing her tight-fitting shirt underneath, and she suddenly stops next to a man who is leaning over the edge of a bridge. He turns to look at her and she stares at him with an expression that can be described as desperate and starved. He promptly walks away. This entire scene is completely confusing. Why does she appear to be trying to make herself sexually available to a man when she spends the entirety of the film avoiding advances by Pascha who is in love with her, and avoiding marriage entirely for decades?

Her indecisiveness about her own life is further demonstrated in a scene where she impulsively asks Pascha to marry her, then immediately withdraws the suggestion, as she thinks about what people will say if “the museum curator marries one of his exhibits?”. The fact that she refers to herself as an exhibit implies a sense of depersonalization, as she doesn't even think of herself as being alive. Her feelings of being dead are shown through her behaviour in this scene. When she proposed to Pascha she was directly facing him, but when she refers to herself as a literal object, she turns her body away and speaks to him over her shoulder. The hiding of her face further emphasizes this depersonalization. Furthermore, she brings up a conversation that she heard earlier between a little girl and her teacher while they were looking at old photos of Nadia in the museum. The little girl had asked if Nadia died in the war, to which the teacher replied “no”. But Nadia seems to think that she is in fact dead, a relic of the past. She doesn't even use the pronoun “I” when asking Pascha if he thinks that she’s dead. She refers to herself in the third person, and asks him “did she die?” This entire scene emphasizes her alienation from herself.

[...]