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Russia And Film Essay, Research Paper

RUSSIA AND FILM

As most other things in Russia, the film industry was heavily regulated by the government. This meant that movies produced were not to put a poor light on the Russian way of things. This can be seen clearly in Russian war movies. For Russia, as most countries, there are two types of war movies. The first type of movie is made during the war that it is about. This type commonly puts a good face on the war. Its main purpose is to put the people on the home front at ease by showing them that the war is going well. It can also be used to show model citizens and how they would act in a war time situation. The second type of movie is made well after the war, a few years to a decade or two later. In this type of movie the viewer gets a more realistic view of the war. It is usually shows the bad points of the war and how if affected those involved. In Russia it was no different except that with government regulations came heavy censorship. This meant that nothing that made the Soviet Union look bad in any way would be released. So few if any of the post-war movies were released until the late 80 s or after.

In any country the movies made during a war have a specific goal or message. That goal or message almost always relays how powerful a leader or country is. For example, in Ivan the Terrible, part 1 (Eisentein, 1943 45) the purpose was to glorify the historical Russian character of Ivan the Terrible. This was done to compare Ivan the Terrible to Stalin. They were both powerful men at the head of the Russian State who fought to keep the country safe from outsiders. In the movie they even used the Germans as an enemy of Ivan just as the Nazi s were the real life counter-parts with Stalin. The movie also illustrated the idea that if a person was not for the union of Russia it was against Russia and therefore its enemy. This point is seen in another wartime movie called No Greater Love (1942). One scene shows a man who was not willing to become a freedom fighter to oppose the invading Nazis. Since he was not willing to fight for the freedom of Russia he was automatically the enemy. As the character tried to leave to go back to his Nazi occupied farm he was shot by another Russian. Throughout wartime cinema there can be seen mottoes and examples for the people to live by and up to.

On the opposite end of this idea is that of the war movie made after the war itself. These movies tend to be dark and dismal. An example of this is the movie Commissar (Askoldov, 1967 / 1987). This movie is focuses on the struggles of a female commander in the Red Army during the revolution. She accidentally gets pregnant and is forced to give up her place in the army to give birth. Initially upon discovering that she was pregnant she tried to kill the baby by drinking iodine. If it is discovered that she has gotten pregnant she could be executed. By the end of the movie she decides that the military and the war are more important to her than the child is. The child is left behind and the commander goes off to fight the war. This movie shows the negatives in a war that was hailed for its ideas of equality. It also focused on how the Jewish population in Russia was abused by everyone, including the military. This was a fact that was denied by the official channels for years and years.

In Russia and the world movies play and important part of how the people perceive what is and did happen. A war movie can raise hopes and backing for a conflict. A movie can also have the public turn there back to it and deny any and all help by painting a poor and grim picture. The Soviet Union controlled this and lived by the motto ignorance is bliss where it concerned its people.

From the beginning of the cinema most films have had a biased or prognostic undertone to them. In viewing several Russian movies from the 1920 s through to present day there can be seen many levels of propaganda. There were subtle movies such as Aelita, Queen of Mars (1924) that showed the importance of the engineer in the new Soviet State and the ever-present danger of the enemy within. Then there were the no so subtle movies like Battleship Potemkin (1925) were a crew mutinied and took control of the ship during the 1905 Revolution. It showed the cruelty of the government in power and how all peoples should stand as brothers in the fight for the new Russia. In this realm of propaganda movie making the old adage he who speaks the softest is heard the most seemed to be a popular choice. The movies with the very sublet and illusive propaganda were usually the best form for the job.

At one point in Russian history a Soviet leader was raised to the status of a living god. Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union through the Great Patriotic War, World War 2, and into a new era of world power and presage. He and his people used many means to elevate him to this status of a living god. One of their tools was the film industry. In the movie Ivan the Terrible, part 1 (Eisenstein, 1943-45) Stalin was compared to this historical figure in an indirect way, but the comparison made was easily understood.

Ivan was a man who came to power in Russia s early history. He took all of the outlying lands and consolidated them into one country. He ended the rule of many of the lords and princes and took sole control of their lands. Ivan fought off invaders and reclaimed lost lands from outsiders. He was also a friend of the people, beloved and adored by them. The movie showed how Ivan s love and dedication to a country could bring greatness to all. The man who would bring this greatness must have the backing of the people and those people must also love and be dedicated to the country and to the higher ideals proposed. If one were to watch the movie and take it at face value it is an uplifting movie giving hope to the viewer of a better tomorrow. If that viewer

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