Anka-machine gunner - the character of the film "Chapayev"

In our country in the era of communism, probably, there would not be a person who has never seen the iconic film "Chapayev" once in his life. The film was shot by Vasilyev brothers based on the same name by Furmanov. Particularly fond of the Soviet viewer Anka-machine gunner, despite the fact that the character was fictional.

At the same time it is known who was the real prototype of this brave and brave heroine.

Evgenia Chapaeva, the great-granddaughter of the well-known division chief Chapaev, declares that the candidate for the Anka-machine gunner's prototype was Furmanov's wife, who was also a consultant to the film she had shot. However, in fact the prototype of the legendary heroine of the movie "Chapaev" was a completely different woman.

In the period when the Anka-machine gunner was born in director's thoughts as a character, the authors of the film quite by chance learned about the existence of one nurse, who was called Maria Andreevna Popova. During a fierce battle, she managed to crawl close to the wounded soldier, who ordered her to shoot a machine gun. The nurse, closing her eyes, was firing, and the wounded fighter controlled one hand with a barrel of weapons. This episode was included in the film, and Anka the machine-gunner became a model of female heroism and selflessness. On the fact that the character of the movie began to be called Anna, the author of the work insisted. So there was the Anka-machine gunner. After a while, the wife of Furmanov and Maria Popova even had a legal battle for the right to be the prototype of the legendary heroine. As a result, the Soviet nomenklatura recognized the rightness of the nurse.

The film about Joseph Chapaev was "asked" personally by Joseph Stalin.

The first version of the film about Chapaev's script "the leader of the people" did not like. He said that the woman-heroine must take part in the film. It was after this that the Vasilyev brothers were forced to rewrite the script and begin an active search for such a woman.

The film about the heroes of the Civil War was released on the screens of the country in 1934. The role of the Anki-machine gunner in it was performed by actress Varvara Sergeevna Myasnikova. The success was simply terrific, and despite the fact that the heroine of the machine gun was a fictional character in the film, the Soviet audience perceived the main characters as real, and all the events taking place in the film seemed to him genuine. People rushed to the cinemas to experience again and again, along with the heroes, the bright events of the Civil War.

Subsequently, Anka became famous as a heroine of anecdotes, which they liked to compose in the people. However, the characters of the short humorous stories became not only Anka, but also quite real personalities - having started Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev and his good-natured assistant Petka. In addition, the Anka-gunner in the film was Petka's lover.

Cinema "Chapaev" was awarded many Soviet and foreign cinematographic awards, including a bronze medal at the Venice Film Festival, the first prize "Silver Cup" of the capital's international film festival and the Grand Prix of the World's Paris Exhibition.