Chapaev (Russian: Чапаев, IPA: [tɕɪˈpaɪf]) is a 1934 Soviet biographical war film, directed by the Vasilyev brothers for Lenfilm.
[1] The film is a heavily-fictionalised biography of Vasily Ivanovich Chapayev (1887–1919), a Red Army notable commander of the Russian Civil War.
With the help of Chapayev's adjutant Petka and the machine gunner Anka (who develop a love interest over the course of the film), and with intelligence provided by Borozdin's defecting aide Petrovich, the division manages to repel an attack from the White Army troops.
Their sacrifices are avenged, however, as Anka alerts the rest of the division and a counterattack is shown to be successful in the final shots of the film.
[5] Chapaev premiered on 6 November 1934, in the Leningrad cinema "Titan"; it quickly became one of the most popular films in the Soviet Union.