Cinema of the Soviet Union: Difference between revisions

Upon the establishment of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]] (RSFSR) on November 7, 1917 (although the [[Soviet Union|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] did not officially come into existence until December 30, 1922), what had formerly been the [[Russian Empire]] began quickly to come under the domination of a Soviet reorganization of all its institutions. From the outset, the leaders of this new state held that film would be the most ideal [[propaganda film|propaganda tool]] for the Soviet Union because of its widespread popularity among the established citizenry of the new land. [[Vladimir Lenin]] viewed film as the most important medium for educating the masses in the ways, means and successes of [[communism]].<ref name="Directives on the Film Business">{{cite web |title=Lenin: Directives on the Film Business |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1922/jan/17.htm |website=marxists.org |access-date=December 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715151801/https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1922/jan/17.htm |archive-date=July 15, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> As a consequence Lenin issued the "Directives on the Film Business" on January 17, 1922, which instructed the [[People's Commissariat for Education]] to systemise the film business, registering and numbering all films shown in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, extracting rent from all privately owned cinemas and subject them to censorship.<ref name="Directives on the Film Business"/> [[Joseph Stalin]] later also regarded cinema as of the prime importance.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2016/01/05/george-lucas-should-think-twice-before-venerating-filmmaking-in-the-ussr/|title=George Lucas should think twice before venerating filmmaking in the USSR|last=Bunch|first=Sonny|date=January 5, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 21, 2019}}</ref>

However, between [[World War I]] and the [[Russian Revolution]], the Russian film industry and the infrastructure needed to support it (e.g., electrical power) had deteriorated to the point of unworkability. The majority of cinemas had been in the corridor between Moscow and [[Saint Petersburg]], and most were out of commission. Additionally, many of the performers, producers, directors and other artists of pre-Soviet Russia had fled the country or were moving ahead of [[Red Army]] forces as they pushed further and further south into what remained of the Russian Empire. Furthermore, the new government did not have the funds to spare for an extensive reworking of the system of filmmaking. Thus, they initially opted for project approval and censorship guidelines while leaving what remained of the industry in private hands. As this amounted mostly to cinema houses, the first Soviet films consisted of recycled films of the Russian Empire and its imports, to the extent that these were not determined to be offensive to the new [[Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet ideology]]. Ironically, the first new film released in Soviet Russia did not exactly fit this mold: this was ''[[Father Sergius (1918 film)|Father Sergius]]'', a religious film completed during the last weeks of the Russian Empire but not yet exhibited. It appeared on Soviet screens in 1918.

Beyond this, the government was principally able to fund only short, educational films, the most famous of which were the [[agitki]] – educational films intended to agitate, or energize and enthuse, the masses to participate fully in approved Soviet activities, and deal effectively with those who remained in opposition to the new order. These short (often one small reel) films were often simple visual aids and accompaniments to live lectures and speeches, and were carried from city to city, town to town, village to village (along with the lecturers) to educate the entire countryside, even reaching areas where film had not been previously seen.

Newsreels, as documentaries, were the other major form of earliest Soviet cinema. [[Dziga Vertov]]'s newsreel series ''[[Kino-Pravda]]'', the best known of these, lasted from 1922 to 1925 and had a propagandistic bent; Vertov used the series to promote [[socialist realism]] but also to experiment with cinema.

Still, in 1921, there was not one functioning cinema in Moscow until late in the year.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} Its rapid success, using old Russian and imported feature films, jumpstarted the industry significantly, especially insofar as the government did not heavily or directly regulate what was shown, and by 1923 an additional 89 cinemas had opened.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} Despite extremely high taxation of ticket sales and film rentals, there was an incentive for individuals to begin making feature film product again – there were places to show the films – albeit they now had to conform their subject matter to a Soviet world view. In this context, the directors and writers who were in support of the objectives of communism assumed quick dominance in the industry, as they were the ones who could most reliably and convincingly turn out films that would satisfy government censors.

New talent joined the experienced remainder, and an artistic community assembled with the goal of defining "Soviet film" as something distinct and better from the output of "decadent [[capitalism]]". The leaders of this community viewed it essential to this goal to be free to experiment with the entire nature of film, a position which would result in several well-known creative efforts but would also result in an unforeseen counter-reaction by the increasingly solidifying administrators of the government-controlled society.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Soviet cinema produced ''[[Ballad of a Soldier]]'', which won the 1961 [[BAFTA Award for Best Film]], and ''[[The Cranes Are Flying]]''.

In the 1980s there was a diversification of subject matter. Touchy issues could now be discussed openly. The results were films like ''[[Repentance (1987 film)|Repentance]]'', which dealt with repression in [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Georgia]], and the allegorical science fiction movie ''[[Kin-dza-dza!]]''.

The policies of [[perestroika]] and [[glasnost]] saw a loosening of the censorship of earlier eras.<ref>Butenko, I. A.; Razlogov, K. E. (1997). ''Recent Social Trends in Russia, 1960–1995''. McGill-Queen's Press. {{ISBN|0-7735-1610-7}}.{{Page needed|date=March 2020}}</ref> A genre known as ''{{ill|chernukha|ru|Чернуха (клише)}}'' (roughly "black stuff"), including films such as ''[[Little Vera]]'', portrayed the harsher side of Soviet life.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cornerstonemag.com/imaginarium/features/soviet2.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926213351/http://www.cornerstonemag.com/imaginarium/features/soviet2.html|url-status=dead|title=Hertenstein, Mike, ''Idols and Icons (Part II) A Survey of Russian and Soviet Cinema''|archivedate=September 26, 2011}}</ref> Notable films of this period include:

*''[[Aelita]]'', a 1924 silent film directed by [[Yakov Protazanov]] based on [[Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy|Aleksey Tolstoy]]'s [[Aelita (novel)|novel of the same name]].