Carmen, Roman Lazarevich

Early years

Roman Carmen was born in the working district of Odessa in a creative family of writer and journalist L. O. Carmen ^{[5] [6]} . After the birth of a son, the family moved to St. Petersburg. His father was invited to the capital to collaborate in literary magazines. The family lived in Kuokkala , near Petrograd, where at that time a real literary colony was formed. My father spoke with many writers, was friends with A. I. Kuprin , was familiar with Maxim Gorky ^[7] . It was father who gave Roman his first camera, the Kodak, ^[6] . After the October Revolution, his father returned to Odessa, where he devoted himself to propaganda work in the Bolshevik press, in the Political Administration of the Red Army . After the capture of Odessa by the White Guard troops, instead of working in a newspaper, he had to sell it on the streets, serve him in prison, from where he came out with acute tuberculosis, which was actually doomed. In the spring of 1920, Lazarus Carmen died ^[8] . Roman Carmen later recalled:

Photojournalism

After the death of his father, he studied at a labor school, moonlighting as a newspaper seller, an assistant in the garage of Sovmorflot. The family lived poorly, during this difficult time, Roman suffered from typhus ^[7] . In 1922 he moved to Moscow with the mother for the fee received for the publication of his father’s selected works. He tried to enter the Moscow Higher Technical School (now MSTU named after N.E. Bauman ), worked as a clerk at the Moscow City Pawnshop , and entered the labor department ^[4] . From childhood he was engaged in photography , his first pictures were published in the Rabfakov wall newspaper ^[7] . The mother, who was interrupted by random literary work, who then began to publish the magazine " Spark ", managed to arrange him there as a photojournalist. As he later recalled, after being hired, he left the editorial office excitedly, holding his first correspondent ticket in his hands: “It was signed by Koltsov , I still keep it as an expensive relic” ^[9] . In September 1923, the first picture of Carmen appeared, which he took on the instructions of the editorial board of Ogonyok, which presented the Bulgarian revolutionary V. Kolarov who arrived in Moscow ^[7] . It is from this time on and from this issue of the magazine that Carmen begins to actually keep track of his work in journalism, and subsequently in documentary films: “I devotedly took a great interest in photo reporting. For me, working at Ogonyok was a great school of excellence ” ^[7] . The first most important event for him was fixing on the film of V. I. Lenin's funeral, which he shot in the Hall of Columns ^[10] .

In 1923-1930 he worked as a photojournalist for the magazines Ogonyok , Searchlight , and Soviet Photo . Member of the group “Russian Society of Proletarian Photographers” ^[11] . For some time he collaborated with the richly illustrated art and literary magazine Thirty Days , founded in 1925, in which he presented his thematic reports and essays. Later, he noted that at that time, from a passion for vivid sketches of life, from filming a report, he often rushed to purely formal searches, the use of various optical effects, and pondered over the problems of frame composition ^[12] .

His photographs were adequately appreciated at the first exhibition of Soviet photo reporting in 1926, held at the Press House, as well as in 1927 at the exhibition "10 years of Soviet photography" (he was the youngest of those awarded) ^{[7] [6]} . Among the most memorable and important photo stories, he highlighted the launch of the first Soviet hydroelectric power station in the city of Volkhov , the grand opening of the Shatursky power station , the beginning of work on the Dnieper , the construction of the city of Kukisvumchor , the return of Gorky to the USSR, the parade of troops on Red Square , etc. ^[13] . According to him: “the photo story was a huge piece of my creative biography, he was my passion, school of excellence, school of journalism” ^[12] . During his reporting, he often came across cameramen, got acquainted with their technique and began to seriously think about changing his activities, realizing what enormous possibilities the film story had in comparison with the capabilities of static photography ^[7] .

Cameraman

The main event that determined his desire for the profession of documentary filmmaker was the film he directed by V. A Erofeev “Towards a happy harbor” ^[14] .

In 1929 he entered the then State College of Cinematography ^[6] . In 1932 he graduated from the camera department of the State Institute of Cinematography (now VGIK named after S. A. Gerasimov). His first film works appeared in 1929 - a series of stories about collectivization ^[15] . In 1930, the plot “Factory-Kitchen” was released, which received fame and recognition among colleagues.

Since 1930, he began working at the Soyuzkinochronika film studio (since 1944 - the Central Documentary Film Studio , now the Russian Central Film and Video Studio for Chronicles and Documentary and Educational Films ) ^[4] . In July 1934 he created a memorable story for him about the arrival of Herbert Wells to Moscow, who was a favorite writer of his childhood. This report is Carmen’s first sound film interview in which Wells, in particular, told him: “In the twentieth year, I was in Russia and saw Lenin. Lenin told me: “Come to us in ten years.” True, fourteen years have passed, but I still arrived ” ^[16] . In 1936, he participated with the athletes of the Dynamo Society as a cameraman in the test rally of cars Gorky - Karakum - Pamir - Moscow ^{[17] [18]} .

Civil War in Spain

Throughout his life he made many documentaries about the war. Fame came to him after he shot in Spain during the Civil War ( 1936 - 39 years). While reading the messages from Spain with interest, he had an overwhelming desire to take part in the events of the civil war and he decided that he would do everything in his power to get to Spain. To this end, Carmen wrote a letter asking him to send him to Spain, the main idea of ​​which can be briefly conveyed as follows: “the Soviet cameraman must be there today” ^[19] . He submitted this petition to the Kremlin pass bureau with a note: “To Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin . Personally". Two weeks later, Carmen was called to the head of the Main Department of Cinematography Boris Shumyatsky , who approved his business trip and B.K. Makaseev to Spain.

The departure was not advertised, since there could not have been official visas to Spain in the civil war ^[6] , besides the USSR was not in diplomatic relations with Spain then, and there was no Spanish embassy in Moscow. With a change in Berlin, they reached Paris by plane, where they received visas and from where they got to Irun , where fierce battles were fought at that time. Once in the midst of events, Soviet cameramen immediately began filming, after which they returned to Paris to transmit the first shots of their “Spanish film chronicles”.

The cameramen later returned to Spain - Barcelona , Madrid , where they met with the writer Koltsov. In Spain, Carmen met with writers Ludwig Renn and Ernest Hemingway , who, together with Joris Ivens, then shot the film “ Spanish Land ” (1937), written and narrated by an American prose writer. Carmen later regretted not recording exactly the conversations with the American writer:

Later, already during the Great Patriotic War, Hemingway sent a letter to a Soviet cameraman from Cuba , in which he expressed confidence that Carmen was in the thick of things and hoped to meet after the opening of the Second Front. The letter ended like this: “Heartfelt greetings! Salud! Your Hemingway ” ^[21] .

The shots taken on the Spanish fronts by him and B.K. Makaseev were mounted in special newsreels - “To events in Spain” ^[15] . In Spain, Carmen also wrote reports for the Izvestia newspaper. Later, Konstantin Simonov noted that peering closely at the shots of the Spanish Civil War, filmed by Carmen, he began to appreciate and understand what hard and courageous work of a front-line cameraman is behind this work:

In 1938, he worked in the Arctic , on Rudolph Island , then in China , where he shot military operations: “From there, from China, Carmen brought a film that smelled of gunpowder and spoke of the unbending courage of the Chinese people” ^[22] .

He also worked as a photojournalist for the magazine "USSR at a Construction Site" ^[23] .

The Great Patriotic War

He was called up for military service on June 25, 1941, worked as a cameraman, head of the cinema group of the North-Western Front , and shot on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War during the battles near Moscow and near Leningrad . In addition to the main work - filming and reporting in the Izvestia newspaper - he worked as a war correspondent for the United Press , an American press agency, which was caused by the fact that foreign correspondents were not allowed to the front, and a compromise was found in their cooperation with Soviet journalists and writers through the Sovinformburo ^[24] .

In August 1942, as part of a film group, he shot the arrival of Winston Churchill in the USSR ^[25] . During the war he participated in the capture of Koenigsberg , forcing the Neman , Vistula and Oder , in the liberation of Warsaw , is one of the first cameramen who shot the concentration camp Majdanek ^[4] . He led the front film groups of the Central , Western and 2nd Ukrainian fronts . In February 1943 he filmed the surrender of Field Marshal F. Paulus near Stalingrad ^[26] , and his picture taken on February 1, 1943 in the presence of KK Rokossovsky - “Interrogation Paulus” then went around the world press ^[27] . The reporter himself did not sleep for three days at this time ^[28] , but the next day, together with his partner Boris Sher , by prior agreement with the headquarters of Rokossovsky, he immediately flew to Moscow. They urgently delivered to the capital of the USSR film materials of all the operators of the Stalingrad and Don Fronts , who shot the Battle of Stalingrad and the defeat of German troops ^[29] .

He went the battle route from the Vistula to the Oder with units of the 2nd Tank Army, the leadership of which contributed to his work, and his telegrams went to Moscow immediately. At this time, at the insistence of the leadership, he continued to cooperate with the American news agency, although he did not attach any particular importance to this. Later he was shown American and English newspapers in which his front-line telegrams were "printed in huge fonts on the front pages ..." ^[30]

During the operation to storm Berlin in one of its districts of Simenshtadt, Carmen got a telephone connected to the city center and, in particular, to the Reich Chancellery of the Third Reich. He had the idea to call the Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels , whose calls to defend to the last city many houses were hung. With the help of translator Viktor Boev, the Soviet officers succeeded with the help of the Schnellebyuro, introducing themselves as a resident of Berlin, who needed to talk with Goebbels on an important and urgent matter, to reach the Reich Chancellery. They were connected with the office of the Reich Minister of Propaganda, after which the translator introduced himself as a Russian officer who wants to speak with Dr. Goebbels. Boev asked him how much more German troops would resist, to which the German minister replied that for several months. According to Carmen, at the end of the conversation, Boev noted: “Keep in mind, Mr. Goebbels, that we will find you everywhere you go, and the gallows are already prepared for you” ^[31] . An official act was immediately drawn up on this fact in several copies, in which the telephone conversation was reproduced verbatim, as in the telegram sent by Carmen later to Moscow. Two days later Goebbels shot himself, this draw did not have negative consequences for those participating in this conversation. Carmen also noted: “This correspondence was not sent by the Sovinformburo to the United Press. Probably, the comrades found this whole story implausible. Or they decided that it did not correspond to the serious spirit of the times ” ^[32] . The German publicist Erich Kuby ( German: Erich Kuby ), cites this episode from the memoirs of Romn Carmen, but complements it with the testimony of Viktor Boev, with whom he personally spoke in Moscow. Boev said that this incident occurred on April 26, 1945, when two war correspondents came to them in the Berlin area occupied by the 22nd tank corps, from Pravda and Izvestia, who had beaten him up to call Goebbels on a stupid trick. As for these events, Boev was absolutely sure because he made an official report on this fact, since he was afraid of the consequences, and this news came to the commander of the 2nd Guards Tank Army S. I. Bogdanov : “Bogdanov was furious; he and other commanders believed that I had missed a great opportunity to discuss the terms of surrender. From the punishment for my deeds I was saved only by the rapid advance of our troops that happened soon ^[33] .

9 мая 1945-го в Берлине Кармен снимал подписание акта о безоговорочной капитуляции Германии . По его словам после того как маршал Жуков предложил Вильгельму Кейтелю, как главе немецкой делегации подписать акт капитуляции, в зале началось безумное столпотворение из присутствующих фотографов и кинооператоров:

После этого всю ночь продолжался банкет на котором присутствовали многие советские полководцы, а также представители союзников и иностранные корреспонденты ^[35] . Как вспоминал режиссёр Ю. Я. Райзман , который руководил съёмочной группой документального фильма « Берлин », куда вошли исторические кадры подписания акта капитуляции Германии, его коллеги шутя называли Кармена «специалистом по капитуляциям» ^[36] . Симонов, который ранее знал Кармена только по его фильмам и познакомился с ним во время войны, отмечал, что встречался с ним на многих участках фронтов, городах СССР и Германии писал про него следующее: «Четыре года он летал, ездил, ходил и ползал дорогами войны. И если правильно говорят, что талант — это труд, то это был поистине свирепый труд, густо замешанный на опасностях и лишениях» ^[37] . Также, по мнению Симонова, кинодокументалистику тех военных лет, так же невозможно представить себе без работ Кармена, как публицистику военного времени без статей Ильи Эренбурга ^[37] .

Во время проведения Нюрнбергского процесса , в составе киногруппы снимал материалы вошедшие в фильм «Суд народов» (1946), который он поставил как режиссёр (совместно Е. Вертовой-Свиловой) и сценарист ^{[38] [4]} . Здесь он встретился вновь с Паулюсом, который дал обвинительные показания против руководства Третьего рейха и пообщался с советским кинооператором ^[39] .

Post-war years

В 1945 году снял военный парад в честь освобождения Албании ^[40] . После окончания войны получили известность его съёмки во Вьетнаме (он стал первым советским гражданином, побывавшим в джунглях Вьетнама и встретившимся там с Хо Ши Мином ^[15] ). Перед советскими кинооператорами (Карменом, Е. В. Мухиным , В. С. Ешуриным ), которые вылетели из Москвы 16 мая 1954 года, была поставлена задача «снять фильм о Вьетнаме, в котором должна быть отражена борьба вьетнамского народа за свою независимость» ^[41] . При встрече с Хо Ши Мином советских операторов поразила его скромность, доброжелательность и логическое мышление, умение на ходу понимать суть проблемы: «…Хо Ши Мин обещал нам свою помощь, но категорически запретил нам работать днём, несмотря на наши уверения, что мы опытные журналисты, привыкшие в годы Отечественной войны к работе на фронте» ^[41] . Советские кинематографисты пробыли во Вьетнаме более полугода, а известность Кармена была там настолько велика, что даже после его возвращения в Москву «вьетнамские люди принимали за Кармена каждого европейского кинооператора» ^[41] . Было отснято около сорока тысяч метров цветной плёнки для документального фильма « Вьетнам » ( вьетн. Việt Nam , 1955) . В 1955 году Ешурин, Мухин и руководитель группы Кармен были награждёны орденами Труда Вьетнама ^[42] . Также снимал в Китае , Бирме , Индии , Индонезии . Много снимал в Южной Америке ^[4] .

Среди известных работ такие фильмы, как «Испания», (1939); « Разгром немецких войск под Москвой », (1942); «Ленинград в борьбе», (1942); « Берлин », (1945); «Суд народов», (1946, о Нюрнбергском процессе ); «Повесть о нефтяниках Каспия», (1953); « Вьетнам », (1955) ^[43] ; «Утро Индии», (1956); « Широка страна моя », (1958 — первый советский панорамный фильм) ^[38] ; «Покорители моря», (1959); «Пылающий остров» (1961); «Великая Отечественная», (1965); « Гренада , Гренада, Гренада моя…», (1968, совместно с К. М. Симоновым ); «Товарищ Берлин», (1969); «Пылающий континент», (1972) ^{[38] [4]} .

Поставленный совместно с Симоновым фильм « Гренада , Гренада, Гренада моя…» Кармен характеризует как интернациональный и антифашистский, о людях которые тогда стали под знамёна интернациональных бригад, чтобы на испанской земле вступить в бой с фашизмом ^[44] .

Recent years

С 1960 года преподавал во ВГИКе . Был заведующим кафедрой режиссуры документального кино ВГИКа . Профессор (с 1970) ^[38] .

В 1963 году французский режиссёр Фредерик Россиф создал полнометражный монтажный фильм «Умереть в Мадриде» ( Mourir à Madrid ), получивший в 1963 году приз Жана Виго и номинированный на премию «Оскар» в 1965 году. Фильм посвящён военным корреспондентам, погибшим в Мадриде, а также кинооператорам и журналистам, которые, освещали ход гражданской войны в Испании. В ленту вошли съёмки произведённый Романом Карменом ^[4] .

Автор ряда книг и множества статей для газет и журналов.

Member of the CPSU (b) since 1939 . Член Союза писателей СССР с 1940 года. С 1965 года — секретарь правления Союза кинематографистов СССР ^[38] .

Роман Кармен умер 28 апреля 1978 года в Москве, прощание проходило в большом зале Дома кино ^[4] . Похоронен на Новодевичьем кладбище ^[45] .

Критика и оценки

Константин Симонов назвал Кармена одним из самых выдающихся и неутомимых деятелей советской документалистики и талантливым литератором ^[46] .

По мнению составителей советского энциклопедического словаря «Кино», фильмы Кармена насыщены «авторской интонацией, темпераментом, глубиной и точностью анализа исторических ситуаций»:

Страстный публицист, вдохновенный художник, он рассказывал в своих фильмах о важнейших событиях в истории нашей страны. Его кинокамера запечатлела волнующие события борьбы трудящихся многих стран мира за свою свободу и независимость, мир и социальный прогресс. Работы Кармена отличаются выразительностью монтажного и звукового решения, мастерством репортажных съёмок ^[38] .

Сам режиссёр в интервью французской газете «Леттр Франсез», говорил, что несмотря на то, что документалистику принято отождествлять с «киноправдой», но это утверждение можно отнести к документальному кино далеко не всегда так это бывает в действительности:

Позиция документалиста, его отношение к явлениям жизни неизбежно заставляет его увидеть именно то, что он хочет, как бы он ни маскировался утверждением, что якобы снимает „всё, что попадает в поле зрения его объектива“. Документальное кино, кинопублицистика не может не быть пропагандистским искусством, не может быть вне тенденции. Скажу больше — идеология, тенденция лежат в самой основе документального кино ^[47] .

Луис Корвалан , чилийский политик и генеральный секретарь Коммунистической партии Чили , про которого Кармен снял документальный фильм «Сердце Корвалана» (1975), говорил о нём следующее:

Роман Кармен показал ужасы фашизма и одновременно силу человека и его величие в борьбе. Его искусство было глубоко гуманно и революционно. Фильмы его были и останутся навсегда немеркнущим символом нашей эпохи.

— Луис Корвалан ^[48]

• Отец — Лазарь Осипович Кармен (1876—1920), писатель и журналист.
• Первая жена — Марианна Емельяновна Ярославская (1915—2003), скульптор, дочь советского партийного и государственного деятеля Е. М. Ярославского ^[4] .
  • Сын — Роман Кармен (1933—2013), режиссёр, оператор ^[49] .
    • Внук — Максим Кармен, продюсер, кинооператор ^[50] .
• Вторая жена — Нина Орлова (более 20 лет в браке) ^[51] .
  • Сын — Александр Кармен (1941—2013), латиноамериканист-международник, преподаватель Московского государственного института международных отношений МИД России ^{[51] [52]} . Автор воспоминаний об отце ^[53] .
• Третья жена — Майя Овчинникова ^{[54] [55]} (1930—2014), после смерти Р. Кармена вышла замуж за писателя В. П. Аксёнова ^[56] .

• Герой Социалистического Труда (18.03.1976)
• Заслуженный деятель искусств РСФСР (12.09.1957) ^[57]
• Заслуженный деятель искусств Азербайджанской ССР (1959)
• Народный артист РСФСР (25.02.1965) ^[58]
• Народный артист СССР (29.11.1966)
• Ленинская премия (1960) — за фильмы «Повесть о нефтяниках Каспия» и «Покорители моря»
• Сталинская премия первой степени (1942) — за фильм «День нового мира»
• Сталинская премия второй степени (1947) — за фильм «Суд народов» (1947)
• Сталинская премия третьей степени (1952) — за фильм «Советский Туркменистан»
• Государственная премия СССР (1975) — за фильмы «Пылающий континент» (1973), «Чили — время борьбы, время тревог», «Камарадос. Товарищи» (1974).
• Национальная премия ГДР (1970) — за фильм «Товарищ Берлин»
• Два ордена Ленина (в т. ч. 1976)
• Два ордена Трудового Красного Знамени (1940, 1957)
• Орден Красной Звезды (1937, за боевую работу в Испании ^{[15] [59]} )
• Орден Красного Знамени (1944) ^{[60] [61]} — за мужество и отвагу проявленную при исполнении служебных обязанностей при форсировании р. Нарев.
• Орден Труда (Вьетнам) (1955) ^[62]
• Medal "For the Defense of Moscow"
• Medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad"
• Medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
• Медаль «Двадцать лет Победы в Великой Отечественной войне 1941—1945 гг.»
• Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
• Medal "For the capture of Berlin"
• Veteran of Labor Medal
• Медаль «50 лет Вооружённых Сил СССР»
• Медаль «60 лет Вооружённых Сил СССР»
• Medal “In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow”
• Medal “For Valiant Labor. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin "
• ВКФ (1968, Ленинград , Главный приз, фильм «Гренада, Гренада, Гренада моя…»)
• МКФ неигрового и анимационного кино в Лейпциге (1968, Главный приз, фильм «Гренада, Гренада, Гренада моя…»)
• МКФ неигрового и анимационного кино в Лейпциге (1969, Специальный приз, фильм «Товарищ Берлин»)
• МКФ неигрового и анимационного кино в Лейпциге (1973, Приз, фильм «Чили — время борьбы, время тревог»)
• МКФ неигрового и анимационного кино в Лейпциге (1974, Приз, фильм «Камарадос. Товарищ»)
• ВКФ (1976, Фрунзе , Главный приз, фильм «Сердце Корвалана»)
• МКФ в Оберхаузене (1976, Приз, фильм «Сердце Корвалана»)
• МКФ неигрового и анимационного кино в Лейпциге (1979, Главный Приз, фильм «Великая Отечественная…»)

Cameraman

Кинорежиссёр

Screenwriter

Artistic Director

• 1978 - Unknown War ^[65]

Scoring

• 1967 - Grenada, Grenada, My Grenada ...

Filmmaking

• 1971 - Mark Bernes (documentary)

Archive footage

• 1987 - Roman Carmen whom we know and do not know (documentary)
• 2006 - With Roman Carmen ... Journey to Youth (documentary)
• 2011 - Warriors of the world. Military Journalists (Documentary)

• Snowmobile. - M., 1931
• Year in China. - M., 1941
• A car crosses the desert. - M., 1954
• Light in the jungle. - M., 1957
• Vietnam is fighting. - M., 1958
• In India. - M., 1960
• For countries of three continents. - M., 1962
• Buenaventura is a citizen of Cuba. - M., 1966
• Heroics of struggle and creation. - M., 1967
• About time and about yourself. - M., 1969
• But Pasaran! - M., 1972
• The art of film reporting. - M., 1974
• Chile - a time of struggle, a time of anxiety. - M., 1975
• Hotel "Florida". - M., 1976

• The street in Odessa is named after R. Carmen ^[66] .
• In 1980, in Moscow, on the house in which he lived ( Kotelnicheskaya embankment , 1/15), from 1970 to 1978, a memorial bronze plaque with a bas-relief portrait was inaugurated ^[4] .
• In 2004, the sons and associates of R. Carmen created a non-profit organization ^[67] "Regional Charity Non-Governmental Cinema Support Fund named after Roman Carmen" ^[68] .

• Carmen R. L. About time and about myself. - M .: Bureau of propaganda of Soviet cinema, 1969.

• Carmen R.L. But Pasaran !. - M .: Soviet Russia, 1972.- 384 p.

• Carmen R. Max Alpert . - Moscow: Planet, 1974. - 100 p.
• Carmen, R. L. Under machine-gun fire: notes from a front-line operator. - M .: Algorithm, 2017 .-- 270 s. - ISBN 978-5-906947-67-3 .
• Carmen A.R. Unknown wars of Roman Carmen. - Novosibirsk: Priobskie Vedomosti, 2007 .-- 483 p.
• Kolesnikova N.A. Roman Carmen. - M .: Art, 19559. - 175 p.
• Roman Carmen in the memoirs of contemporaries: collection / comp. A. L. Vinogradova. - M .: Art, 1983 .-- 358 p.
• Their weapon is a movie camera. Stories of front-line cameramen // Compiled by A. A. Lebedev, D. G. Rymarev. - M .: Art, 1984. - 277 p.

• Roman Carmen on the Internet Movie Database
• The personal page of Roman Carmen on the site of the Museum # CSDF .
• Carmen, Roman Lazarevich at the Rodovod . Tree of ancestors and descendants

• Carmen, Roman Lazarevich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".
• Roman Carmen
• Carmen Roman Lazarevich
• Roman Carmen on the website of the magazine "Session"
• The film Roman Carmen, whom we know and do not know. (1987)
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