Girl No. 217 Explained

Girl No. 217
Director:	Mikhail Romm
Starring:	Yelena Kuzmina Vladimir Balashov Tatyana Barysheva Heinrich Greif
Music:	Aram Khachaturian
Cinematography:	Boris Volchek Era Savelyeva
Studio:	Mosfilm
Runtime:	99 min.
Country:	Soviet Union
Language:	Russian

Girl No. 217 (Russian: Человек № 217, translit. Chelovek No. 217) is a 1945 Soviet war drama film directed by Mikhail Romm. It was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival.^[1]

An anti-Nazi film, it depicted a Russian girl enslaved to an inhuman German family.^{[2] [3]} She is even robbed of her name and forced to answer to "No. 217".^[4] Subplots depict abuse directed at other POWs.^[4] This reflected the use by Nazis of Ostarbeiter as slave labour, including as family servants.

Cast

• Yelena Kuzmina as Tanya Krylova (Nr. 217)^[5]
• Vladimir Balashov as Max Krauss
• Tatyana Barysheva as Greta Krauss
• Heinrich Greif as Kurt Kahger
• Anastasiya Lissianskaya as Klava Vasilyeva
• Grigory Mikhaylov as prisoner Nr. 225
• Lidiya Sukharevskaya as Lotta Krauss
• Peter Suthanov as Rudolph Peschke
• Vasili Zajchikov as scientist

Notes and References

1. Web site: Festival de Cannes: Girl No. 217 . 1 October 2016 . festival-cannes.com . 26 October 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161026174856/http://org-www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/1946/inCompetition.html . dead .
2. Book: Kino: A History of the Russian and Soviet Film. George Allen / Unwin. Jay Leyda. Jay Leyda. 1960. 379.
3. Anthony Rhodes, Propaganda: The Art of Persuasion: World War II, p. 219 (1976) Chelsea House Publishers, New York
4. "Girl No. 217"
5. Web site: Человек №217 (1944). 1 October 2016. KinoPoisk.