White Nights (2006)

Special Edition DVD

I saw White Nights when I was twelve. At this time, everything had a bigness to it. The year was 1985, America was involved in the Cold War, Reagan was in office and my Dad would take me to work with him when he was able. While on a business lunch, I remember him and some of his colleagues discussing visiting Russia as they ate caviar. I didn't like the taste of it but I ate it because caviar is something you hear about your whole life, and if nothing else you know the value of it.

How does this play into my review of White Nights?

Well, this tale of an American, Raymond (Gregory Hines), who deserted the US Army and wound up in Russia, is juxtaposed with a Russian, Nikolai (Mikhail Baryshnikov), who defected to the US and suddenly finds himself back in his Motherland. The Russian government wants Raymond to help keep Nikolai behind the Iron Curtain, and Nikolai needs Raymond's help to escape again. Considering when this movie was made, the political climate, the dancing and everything else, White Nights is a film that deserves to be revisited on DVD.

Like the caviar, I may not have really understood this movie, I just knew it had value.

Commentary
Taylor Hackford provides a highly insightful commentary track as he recalls the what and whys of this film's production. He speaks in very technical terms regarding the making of the film, the dancing and the overall logistics of the production. Hackford muses on the locales, the actors and if you are a film student wanting to learn about film technique, you would be wise to give this a listen.

Pas de Deux: Making White Nights
In this "Making Of" we hear from Hackford, Helen Mirren and Isabella Rossellini as they look back on this movie. The director talks about wanting to make a dance film, how the production came together and then he and the actors discuss the deeper meanings. All of this is mixed in with images from the film and I love that this movie looks at the idea of how everyone holds Communism up as being a movement beyond reproach, but this featurette asks if that is really the case.

I remember wanting to see this movie very badly when I was younger. I have no idea why, as dancing stories really didn't interest me (they still don't), but I sat through White Nights and when it was over I remember feeling good even though I couldn't tell you word one about what had just transpired in the movie. Still, the performances and the relationships stayed in my head. Having rewatched the movie again after all this time, I obviously understand it more but I still recall my first time screening this movie with fondness. I think this has a lot to do with the way that director Taylor Hackford has put the story across on screen.

White Nights captures human beings trying to understand their lives and themselves in world that seems void of all rational emotions.