Down Items in Modern Cinema.

"Babylon A.D.". In M. Kassovitz's famous sci-fi action film, almost most of the main characters' adventures take place in Russia and Eastern Europe. As almost always with Western screenwriters, it is always cold in our country. As a result, among the extras you can see many women wrapped in down shawls and stoles, and women with shawls wound around their heads. An attentive viewer will recognise many down items in the scene at the railway station and in the moment of illegally crossing the Russian border. One of the film's main villains, Gorsky (Gérard Depardieu), loves to travel in comfort. Note the cute down cushions in his "business-class" tank.

"Eastern Promises". One of the few "sane" and realistic films about "evil Russians". Naomi Watts's character appears in the frame several times in a knitted cardigan that clearly resembles those very down-knitted items. Also, in the feast scene at the "Trans Siberian" restaurant, at least one of the guests is wearing a similar cardigan.

"Child 44". Everyone remembers the scandal over the ban on this film's distribution in Russia. Nevertheless, we watched it; we will leave the plot to the critics, as our purpose was somewhat different. The film is set in the former USSR, and the number of times characters in down warm shawls appear on screen is simply countless! Here are just some of them.

"Enemy at the Gates". A British film about the famous Battle of Stalingrad starring Jude Law, which, strangely enough, does not show Russian people as villains. One of the film's characters, Sasha Filippov, appears several times in a warm shawl. The main character, sniper Vasily Zaitsev, wraps his rifle with down and wears knitted fingerless gloves. During the Second World War, Orenburg knitters really did make warm things for soldiers, including special gloves for snipers and warm knitted helmet liners; if you watch carefully, this can also be seen in the frame.

"The Revenant". The film is set in 1800. According to official sources, the down-knitting craft became widespread only in the mid-19th century. Whether it is a film blooper, my mistake or something we do not know, take a close look at the frame below. Does it remind you of anything?

"Bimmer". In Russian cinema, characters appear in down items more often, of course, so we give only the most popular examples. In Buslov's famous crime road movie, fate carries the characters into the Russian backwoods. An old healer woman nicknamed Sobachikha meets them with a warm grey shawl on her shoulders. Shawls and warm shawls can also be seen on some extras throughout the film.

"The Island". Lungin's famous drama. It is set on the northern islands of our country. Here are some of the parishioners:

"Leviathan". This film is famous for having been nominated for an Oscar. The events unfold in a provincial town on the shore of the Barents Sea. Chilly, isn't it? And again the famous down items appear in the frame, both on ordinary citizens and on some of the official characters of the film.

We will end the review here for now; we are sure the down shawl is a "character" in many more modern works of mass culture. We have only given some fairly well-known examples that clearly show that the products of the down-knitting craft will not soon be forgotten or go out of world fashion.

(Note: all information in this article is purely analytical and informational in nature).