1941 is a Ukrainian historical TV series in Russian language that premiered in 2009.
It follows the residents of a small town of the Soviet Union under Nazi German occupation during World War II and the exploits of local partisans (Soviet guerillas) fighting the Germans. It was followed by two sequels titled, appropriately, 1942 and 1943.
Not to be confused with the Steven Spielberg film.
Tropes
- Abhorrent Admirer: Arkhip to Maria.
- Big Damn Heroes: Uncle Vasily saving Maria from rape.
- Bittersweet Ending: As the series ends in 1943, our protagonists still have considerably more warfare ahead of them and no certainty who among them, if any, would survive. They've lost many comrades, and Grisha loses Katya. But Mukha confesses his love to Alyona, and Walter and Dasha are happily engaged.
- Blackshirt: Several in the village take the opportunity to collaborate with the Nazis, most notably Arkhip and Semyon, for their own ends. Also Igor, who was taking advantage of Alyona's compassion to collaborate secretly with Arkhip.
- Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: A variation occurs when Latvian fascists attack a young Soviet couple on their wedding day. The bride is raped and murdered, and the camera lingers not on her dress but rather on her stefana, the crown worn by Orthodox brides. Her groom is later seen clutching it when the partisans arrive to try to save his life.
- Breakout Character: Walter, who was originally supposed to die at the end of the first season, and was spared due to his popularity.
- The Cassandra: Ivan is often right about things (notably he suspects something is up with Igor immediately) but is not heeded.
- Child Soldier
- Cold-Blooded Torture: The bad guys don't balk about using this even on young children and old ladies.
- Les Collaborateurs
- Did Not Get the Girl: Despite having three love interests over the course of the series, Grisha doesn't end up with any of them.
- Dumb Struck: Eva.
- First-Name Basis: Most characters consistently go by their first names, even the Nazi officers Walter and Thomas.
- This changes in 1942. Weissman is usually referred to by his rank, Sturmbannführer.
- Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: Walter is disgusted by the rape and murder committed by some of the Nazi soldiers.
- Idiot Ball: Grisha tends to hold it most of the time. Prime example: him coming to Dasha's house to find her, despite her telling him that a Nazi officer is living there.
- Love Across Battlelines: A Nazi officer and a Russian peasant girl.
- Love Dodecahedron: Ivan loves Alyona but she marries his brother Grisha instead. Later she has an affair with Igor as well. Grisha loves Dasha but marries Alyona anyway. Then the German officer Walter develops feelings for Dasha complicating matters even further. Eventually Dasha loves him back.
- Love-Interest Traitor: Igor.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Grisha assumes that Dasha is having an affair with Walter despite her protests. Quite hypocritical of him, considering he's married and cheating on his own wife with Dasha.
- Mistaken Identity: After being the only survivor of a bombing raid, Grisha discards his bloodstained clothes and puts on the uniform of a dead Soviet officer, causing the partisans to mistake him for such.
- In 1942, the partisans badly need a doctor to tend to their wounded. The partisan sent to kidnap a doctor mistakenly takes Walter instead, who was recovering in the hospital from the wound inflicted by Grisha.
- Mistakenly Attacked Mole: Grisha shoots and kills his own brother Ivan, having mistaken him for a German agent due to the coat he is wearing.
- Occupiers Out of Our Country
- Officer and a Gentleman: Contrary to what one might expect for a Russian series, Walter is absolutely this: kind, noble, brave, and chivalrous. His only negative trait is that, well, he's a Nazi officer.
- Pet the Dog: A German soldier is perfectly willing to shoot a POW for escaping from him, until Alyona tearfully begs him to spare the man, claiming that he is her husband. The German soldier even fires his gun into the air to give the impression that he shot the POW before walking away.
- Rape, Pillage, and Burn
- La Résistance: Most of the main Ukrainian cast.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Yanko after his bride is raped and murdered.
- Smug Snake: Weissman, so much.
- Those Wacky Nazis: The German characters range from Walter (who is almost an Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist) to Thomas (who has Blood Knight tendencies) all the way to various Punch-Clock Villain mooks and Big Bad antagonists.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: A partisan can't handle seeing some Roadside Surgery and vomits.
- Would Hurt a Child: Thomas.
- You Remind Me of X: Dasha resembles Walter's deceased fiancee, hence his gigantic soft spot for her. When Grisha sees the picture of Walter's fiancee in the locket he wears around his neck, he cannot bring himself to kill him.
