"Калина красная" - не просто возглавила кинопрокат 1974 года, она не оставила равнодушным ни одного зрителя - половина осуждала главного героя, остальные всячески оправдывали. Сам Шушкин по возможности каждный раз обьяснял, какую идею вкладывал в уста своему Егору и что хотел сказать этим фильмом.

"Favorite Cinema" is a series of 35-volume books dedicated to the most outstanding films created by Soviet cinematographers. Each volume of the series tells the story of the origin of one picture, about its creators, the actors who played the main roles, the details of the filming process, and also about what remained behind the scenes. An inalienable part of every book is a DVD with a film to which it is dedicated.

"Kalina Krasnaya" - not only led the film distribution in 1974, it did not leave any viewer indifferent - half condemned the main character, the rest justified it in every possible way. Shushkin himself, whenever possible, each time explained what idea he put into his mouth to Egor and what he wanted to say with this film.

************

"The most unique thing about "Kalina Krasnaya" is that it is absolutely true to itself. Everything about it whether it is costume, decor or pastoral setting is truly authentic. The people shown in this film are simple but they do not hesitate in showing their maliciousness towards a person who had a shady past. This proves the point that human society is cruel with wicked people. While watching Egor's suffering one wonders whether there is any such thing as a reformed criminal as society does not give any second chance to criminals.

The Red Snowball Tree/Kalina Krasnaya is an important film in the history of Russian cinema. It was the last film made by Vasily Shukshin in 1974 both as an actor as well as director. For countless people in the world who are aware of the richness of Russian culture and civilization, the name of Vasily Shukshin is easily recognized not only as a great Russian writer, but also as one of Russian cinema's greatest actors. Kalina Krasnaya impresses viewers with excellent acting performances. Apart from his own role as an actor, Vasily Shukshin has managed to extract excellent performances from leading actors such as Lidiya Fedoseyeva-Shukshina and Georgi Burkov".