(Belyj Bim - Chyornoye Ukho)
(White Bim - Black Ear)
USSR (1977): Drama
Russia's popular actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov plays Ivan Ivanovich, an ill and aging World War II veteran, who comes into possession of an eager and lovable puppy, whom he calls Bim. Because Bim has a black ear, which is not part of his breed's accepted physical conformation, Ivan is unable to obtain a pedigree certificate for him, a fact which causes him endless trouble. Though most of his neighbors are too feeble to be concerned, a few of them hypocritically criticize any deviation from "correctness," including Ivan's dog, his boon companion. Bim is, in fact, Ivan's only close friend. Bim wins friends in Ivan's housing project when the dog alerts neighbors to illegal activities by those same obnoxious hypocrites.
This touching drama won the very important Lenin Prize of the Soviet Union in 1980, the Grand Prize of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, and was nominated for an Oscar® as Best Foreign Film in 1978. Tikhonov, who plays the old man here, may be best known in the West for his performance as Prince Bolkonsky in Sergei Bondarchuk's epic 1967 film of War and Peace. Stanislav Rostotsky directs for Gorky Film Studios. (Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide)
View an extended clip from this film from YouTube.com.
· Foreign Language Film Award 1978: (USSR) (No producer credited.)
1 nomination