A film that helped establish Sokurov's reputation, Maria is a "requiem," a lovely, sad portrait of an exemplary collective farmer who had grown flax in the traditional way all her life. The first part, shot in color in 1975, creates a pastoral atmosphere around Maria Voinova's life as she works in the hay fields, bathes in a paradisiacal stream, and vacations in the Crimea. Nine years later, when the crew returned to follow up on her story, they discovered she had died at age 45, and along with her had died numerous traditions. A rhapsodic hymn to the Russian countryside and a lament for its past, Maria is also a political critique.