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HBC has only limited information on individual Russian films or foreign films about Russia. Few of these films are available in the West. The only Russian film most Americans could name is "Potemkyn". Fortunately our Russian readers have provided us information about Russian films featuring children. They provide a wealth of information about Soviet ideology as well as the every day live of the Russian people, including children. Information on these films thus provide valuable insights on Russia. The ideological content of Soviet-era films is interesting. And it is interesting to follow film mking and the ideological twists and turns of the Soviet era. It is also interesting to observe evcery day Russian life as portrayed in the films. This is in part because the Soviets never profuced films depicting high-society life which was quite common in early American films.
The Finnish documentary, "The 3 Rooms of Melancholia", is a poweful, beautifully made, almost poetic film addressing the continuing Chechen conflict. While the film crew is Finnish and other Europeans, the film is about Russia. The film adresses how the dreadful conflict in Chechnya has affected children. The production is notable for its very limited dialog abd a musical score which works with the images rather than overwealming them. I am not sure just who the children are, but their performances are exceptional.
A Russian reader has mentioned the Soviet film The Adventures of Elektronik to us. We know virtually nothing about the movie. It was made at Odesskaya Kinostudiya, Odessa, USSR, 1979. A reader tells us that it was an extremely popular movie. Apparently much of it is set at a school. Hopefully our Russian readers will tell us more about th film. The children wear school uniforms. Our Russian reader tells us that for two decades (1970s-80s) that the Soviet school uniform was virtually unchanged. So it was available in any shop selling goods for children. But in very warm days the official uniform was optional.
The movie “Adventures of Petrov and Vasechkin: Usual and Incredible” (“Priklucheniya Petrova I Vasechkina, obyknovennye I neeroyatnye”) was made in 1982. This is another film about 4th graders. Children play, sing, write love notes to girls, make a school preformance (in French) on the “Little Rrd Riding Hood", have a rest on the sea shore and so on. Here there is no heavy-handed ideology. The children are realistically depicted. They wear Pioneer Scarfs, but this is just a uniform item, nothing more. There are scenes at school and at a Pioneer camp. The film is essentially a children's comedy about school life, without Communism, Party and other such things. I am sure, you will notice the difference between movies during the Stalinist years (1930s-50s) and later movies. Just look at faces. Since the late- 60s most of educated people, writers (for example – Vladislav Krapivin, Anatoly Alexin, Edward Uspensky), actors and other progressive people of USSR began to openly criticize the Young Pioneer Organization for its formalizm, old-fashioned military style, stupid “marching in rows” and so on.
A Russian reader has provided us an image of the Soviet-era film, "Advetures of a small daddy". A narrator (a small girl) tells about adventures of her daddy when he was a small boy. The boy (the narrator girl calls him "Daddy" through a whole movie, his name isn't mentioned) was teased by other boys for he played in a yard with a girl. A biggest of bullies threatened to throw "Daddy"'s new ball (a gift from his parents) under a bus. But then "Daddy" wishing to prove that he is not sissy, "cool" and absolutely not frightened throws his ball under a bus himself. Most of the boys in the film seem to be wearing short-sleeve shits and long pants even though the wearher seems warm. One boy wears short pants and what look to be tights. A reader writes, "Notice that the boy at the extreme right in this photo wears grey long stockings or perhaps tights. Tights were common in Russia but long stockings persisted well into the 1970s for reasons of economy and flexibility (the ability to wear them down or up depending on the weather)." Another factor here was probably it took Russian manufacturers a whole to shift from long stockings to tights. Russian state-owned ibndustry did not adjust as rapidly to consumer demand as in the West. The question of consumer demand is an interesting one. We are not sure to what extent conservative consumers continued to want long stockings.
The movie “Attention, the Turtle!” (“Vnimanie, Cherepaha!”) was made in 1971. In this marvelous movie there is no ideolgy at all. Children and adults are real, alive people. There is not a single word about USSR, party, communism and so on. The movie is basically a school film. It begins with a scene, where a young school teacher goes on Moscow street dressed in a fashionable mini-skirt and bright short raincoat. On some distance she is followed by two small girls (1st or 2nd grade), who’s dresses are also very short. But when the teacher comes to school, she hides and rolls down her skirt, takes off a bright raincoat, then puts on glasses to become a “true” teacher. This would have been and inconceivable sceen in a Stalinist era film. Children following her also hide and rolls down their skirts, after that run to their teacher and greet her. This film is very touching. It teaches a love of animals. Even more, it openly rejects some traditional Communist principles.
When a teacher says a ritual phrase “There are no indispencable people!” (one of communist ideas, that “one person is nobody, a zero”) a small boy askes her “But who are dispenable people?” and stuns her with this question. More in this movie authors smile about the Soviet obsession with war. Another small boy, the main character's antagonist, is obsessed with war and always paints war pictures. In the plot he steals from a “Corner of live nature” a turtle (who’s name is “Rocket”) and tries to put it under a tank “to check if its shell (armor) is "solid” or not. Another boy, the main character, knowing that Rocket is in danger, runs away from a children hospital where he is being treated. A girl from his class also concerned about rocket helps him by changing clothes with him and replacing him in the hospital. In the climatic scene, he manages to draw the tank commander's attention to Rocket and the tanks turn to avoid Rocket.
Elem Klimoff, 1985.
While made in America, the novie based on Boris Pasternak's novel is the single most widely seen film about Russia. It could not be seen in the Soviet Union and was only availble to Russian after the collapse of Soviet communism in 1992. I remember taking a Soviet visitor to see the film and he was visably moved, asking "Why can't we see this movie?"
Nicholas And Alexandra was the movie version of the book written by Robert Maskie. Well made film on the fall of the Tczar. The Tczaravich Alexis wears a white sailor suit with short pants and knee socks. Until World War I began, Alexis almost always did wear sailor suits. Onnce the War began he wore an ordinary-looking Army uniform.
Andrei Tarkovsky, 1963.
The story of the virtually illiterate monk Rasputin and the Russian royal family is one of the most often told tales of World War I. This 1996 made for TV movie prominently features the Tsarevitch Alexis and the many uniforms that he wore. Alexis usually wore a sailor suit, except for formal occasions. After the War began in 1914, he began wearing army uniforms.
Often cited as the first Soviet sound film. It deals with the orphaned, homeless children left in the wake of the Revolution and the subsequent war between the Reds and Whites. The film focuses on the difficult job of trying to educate the children.
This is a lovely little film made during the Soviet era. It is about a little 7 year old boy named Sasha. He is studying the violin and has trouble with bullies. He dresses like a British boy with short pants, kneesock s, and "T" strap sandals. Unlike British boys in the 1970s, Sasha wears patterned shorts and kneesocks. Most other boys wear long pant, but some wear shorts. Another violin student wears a large white collar and short pants with long stockings. A little boy being bullied hat Sasha helps wears shorts and long stockings as well. There was a short scene before his violin class when Sasha makes friends with a little girl tht has a huge hair bow. Sasha makes friends with a steam roller driver. His cultured mother disapproves when Sasha comes home with his hands all greassy.
Pavel Chukhrai, 1999.
The movie “Vasyok Trubachev and His Class-mates” (“Vasyok Trubacherv I yego tovarischi”) was made in 1956 and is a standard Stalinist era film. The main heroes were three boys from 4th grade, very good friends. Vasya is the true leader of the Pioneer squad. He is very responsible, athletic, learns good, can use instruments (like axe, saw etc.) and dreams to be a train locomotive driver like his father. (Note the choice of a working-class biy.) Kolya is very disciplined, principle, active, learns good. He is an older brother in a big family, so he can to make a dinner, care for children and even sew. Sasha is the smallest and weakest boy in the class. He is depicted as the only boy in the class still wearing short pants with long stockings, but he learns good (again), knows a lot about sciences, communications and so on. All the children in the movie are depicted schematically, they are so serious and in my opinion are more like small adults or even a small robots. They all tell long and boring speeches about “duty of a Soviet pioneer”, “being a true Soviet pioneer” and so on. Adults, the class teacher and the school Pioneer leader are depicted as “true communist” and “true comsomol member”. The plot of the movie is very primitive and liveless. This reflects Soviet film making during the Stalinist era. Imagination and complexity were not characteriztics that were highly prised in film making and literature. In fact they could get you in a lot of trouble. Stalin died in 1953 and Khruchev denounced him at the 20th Party Congress (1956). It took longer for the impact of Stalin to loosen his grip on Soviet film making.
The movie "A White Sail Gleams" is a movie based on the novel by Soviet writer Valentin Kataev (1897-1986). He was a notable Soviet-era Russian novelist and playwright. Somehow managed to craft insightful works describing Soviet social conditions without violating the standards of Soviet censors. Very few notable authors were able to accomplish this. One of his most beloved books is Beleyet parus odinoky/A White Sail Gleams (1936). Russian readers will immediately recognize both the book and the date, Kataev published it in the midst of the Great Terror. It was a popular success in Russia and immediately turned iinto a movie (1937). Here is a screenshot from the film. The story is set in Tsarist times. It is about the revolutional events of 1905 from the point of view of two small boys - one Petya, from the family of a school teacher, and second Gavrik, son of a poor fisherman.
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