Burnt by the Sun (, translit. Utomlyonnye solntsem, literally "wearied by the sun") is a 1994 Russian drama film directed, written, produced and starring by Nikita Mikhalkov and co-written by Azerbaijani screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov. The film depicts the story of a senior Red Army officer, played by Mikhalkov, and his family during the Great Purge of the late 1930s in the Stalinist Soviet Union. While on vacation with his wife, young daughter, and assorted friends and family, things change dramatically for Colonel Kotov when his wife's old lover, Dmitri, shows up after being away for many years. The film also stars Oleg Menshikov, Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė and Mikhalkov's daughter Nadezhda Mikhalkova.
Burnt by the Sun was popular in Russia and received positive reviews in the United States. It won the Grand Prix at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and other honours.
Plot
The entirety of the film takes place within the course of one day in the summer of 1936 in the Soviet Union. After witnessing Mitya contemplate suicide, the film cuts to Komdiv Sergei Petrovich Kotov, his wife Maroussia, and their young six-year-old daughter Nadia relaxing in a banya when a peasant from the local collective farm frantically tells them the Red Army's tanks are about to crush the wheat harvest as part of general maneuvers. After hearing this news, Kotov rides out to order the tank officer to halt. Kotov carries authority as a senior Old Bolshevik and legendary hero of the 1917 Russian Civil War, and he is also very popular with the common people and local villagers. The opening scene makes it clear that Kotov is a devoted family man, and he claims to be a personal friend of Stalin.
Following this incident, the happy family returns to their country dacha (country estate), where they join Maroussia's relatives, a large and eccentric family of Chekhovian aristocrats. However, Mitya (Dmitri), an ex-nobleman and veteran of the anti-communist White Army soon arrives after being away for roughly ten years. He was Maroussia's fiancé before disappearing in 1927. He shows up in a costume to disguise himself, but when he takes it off he is joyfully embraced by the family and introduced to Nadia as "Uncle Mitya". Maroussia is left feeling deeply conflicted, as she had suffered deeply when he left without explanation and even contemplated suicide as seen through the self-inflicted marks on her wrists.
Despite his personable nature, it is clear that Mitya has returned with a secret agenda. It is slowly revealed throughout the duration of the afternoon that he works for the Soviet political police, the NKVD, and has arrived to arrest Kotov for a non-existent conspiracy that Mitya had framed him for. Mitya is abusing his power for the purpose of revenge, since ten years ago Kotov had conscripted Mitya into the OGPU, the predecessor of the NKVD, and was therefore the reason for Mitya being taken away. Mitya detests Kotov, whom he blames for causing him to lose Maroussia, his love for Russia, faith, and his profession as a pianist. Kotov confronts Mitya about his activities in Paris, where he gave up eight White Army generals to the NKVD. All were kidnapped, smuggled to the Soviet Union, and shot dead without trial.
Although eventually realizing that Mitya intends to take him away, Kotov believes that his close relationship with Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin will save him. However, a black car carrying NKVD agents arrives to remove Kotov, just as a group of Young Pioneer children arrives at the dacha to pay tribute to him. Kotov willingly goes with Mitya, pretending to be Mitya's friend and even lets Nadia briefly ride in the car with them. While riding away in the car with his captors, Kotov reminds them who he is and his status, but he quickly realizes that they don't care and that it was Stalin himself who ordered his arrest. Only after looking into Mitya's eyes does Kotov realize the severity of the situation, causing him to breakdown in tears. Kotov is forced to make a false confession to all the charges Mitya framed him for and is shot dead in August 1936. Meanwhile, following Mitya's success in his revenge against Kotov, he ultimately commits suicide, as his revenge did not satisfy him in the way he thought it would. In addition, Maroussia is arrested and dies in the Gulag in 1940. Although arrested with her mother and taken to a concentration camp, Nadia lives to see all three sentences overturned during the Khrushchev thaw, in 1956, and works as a teacher in Kazakhstan.