Figure 1.--Here Olya in her school uniform with a red Young Pioneer scarfe gets into a magic mirror, meets there her own reflection, a girl Yalo, and together discovers a magic kingdom. The depiction of the children and the minimal ideological propaganda is a major departure for Soviet films.

The “Kingdom of Curved Mirrors” (“Korolevstvo Krivyh Zerkal”) is an interesting Soviet film. All the children are picted as Young Pioneers, but that is only a minor paet of the film. The presentation is very different from how Pioneers were commonly depicted during the 1950s. The depiction is much more like real children. In the beginning of the movie, the Pioneers are pictured being a little naughty. They are peeking through the holes in the wall of a movie theatre which is playing a risque film. There is a sign. “forbidden to watch for children under 16”. Later the main protagonist, a girl Olya (4th grade) gets into a magic mirror, meets there her own reflection, a girl Yalo, and together discovers a magic kingdom. Through this adventure from her reflection she learns about her negative sides (being nasty, fear of darkness, loving of soda water and sweets etc.), denies them and in the final gains a victory over a bad king of a magic kingdom and returns home. In this movie there is almost no ideology except two moments. In the first girls are asked “from what a country are you?” – and they respond “from the very best in the world!”. The second moment –- in the final of the last struggle girls sing a song about “red flag of our Pioneer squad”. But if to omit those two moments the movie is just a good children fairy tale.

Created: 1:58 AM 12/11/2008
Last updated: 1:58 AM 12/11/2008