One of my favorite movies of all time is Kin Dza Dza. It's a low budget comedy sci-fi movie with amazing ideas and a surreal aesthetic, and is quite funny and gets better with each watch. It's a subtle criticism of the soviet union in the era before its fall. You'll be saying "Kuuuu" for days after watching it.<p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kin-dza-dza" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kin-dza-dza</a>!<p>Edit: just noticed a critic quoted on wikipedia called it "Mad Max meets Monty Python by way of Tarkovsky", which is a very accurate description.
Among the Russian films with a strong political innuendo I've seen, "Welcome, no trespassing" was the sharpest and one of the most enjoyable. It's about a scout camp where the the director oppresses the children with stupid formal procedures, patriotic ceremonies, and abuses of power. I could not understand why this film was allowed, since the camp is an obvious metaphor of the USSR.<p>I'm also surprised one of the most famous Russian comedies, Sauna Blues, was not in this article. Even more since its main actor died this year. Sauna blues is a funny romance, yet it depicts Russian cities were buildings and furniture are similar and spiritless, so much that people can't recognize their apartment or their street.
Here are the official free YouTube links to most of the films mentioned in this thread, all have english subtitles:<p>'Sauna Blues' aka 'The Irony of
Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (1975)':
Part 1:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVpmZnRIMKs" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVpmZnRIMKs</a><p>Part 2:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmGPeowN-0" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmGPeowN-0</a><p>Other good films:
Kin-dza-dza! (1986):
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYHv8eJrW2Y" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYHv8eJrW2Y</a><p>Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (1973):
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a50qT9bW2Qo" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a50qT9bW2Qo</a><p>Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964):
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-r9XNmqQHk" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-r9XNmqQHk</a><p>Bootleggers (1961) (doesn't have dialogue, so no subs):
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_-ehagcrBg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_-ehagcrBg</a><p>The Most Charming and Attractive (1985):
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7PbeasXUbM" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7PbeasXUbM</a><p>All have english subtitles.
Here, watch this.<p>Bootleggers (1961)<p>18 minutes of pure silliness, zero conversation.<p><a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x_-ehagcrBg" rel="nofollow">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x_-ehagcrBg</a>
Growing up in the USSR I always been fascinated by how only a few of soviet writers/comedians/directors were allowed some level of freedom while the rest had to stay true to the party propaganda lines. Obviously, these few were most appreciated.
I wish some soviet era standup comedian material was translatable to English. The jokes were layered in the way that made them funny, even to people who only grasped the surface layer.
Most of us who lived in the soviet union, watched a couple of those at least a few times:
- Кавказская пленница <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping,_Caucasian_Style" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping,_Caucasian_Style</a>
- Операция „Ы“ и другие приключения Шурика <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Y_and_Shurik%27s_Other_Adventures" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Y_and_Shurik%27s_Oth...</a>
- Джентльмены удачи <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentlemen_of_Fortune" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentlemen_of_Fortune</a>
- Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром! <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate</a><p>Last one is something you'd see every new years eve. (spoiler here) It uncovers a stupidity of cities in the USSR, when those were identical up to a street name.<p>My mom and dad would probably come up with a slightly different list of their favorites, nonetheless they would agree these can be called "true" classics.<p>The important bit to remember here is that all of that production was going through "checks" to make sure there are no anti-communist ideas in the movies. Creators had to either be very careful to disguise some of the sentiment or not to have it.<p>At the end of the day people were not idiots and understood the role of the government. We all had someone close who was a survivor from gulag or a returning labor camp prisoner or a displaced individual with no right to get back to his village. So our lives were kind of similar to everybody elses in the west, provided you eliminate those awful bits. And maybe because those terrible parts were absent in these movies, we were able to have a good laugh.<p>Honestly watch those and have a laugh. If it seems not funny then try learning some russian and watch them again :D I know it is a terrible dad joke.
> What’s interesting about Afonya is its picture of Soviet life at a time when we were told all was grey, unsmiling misery there. Instead it’s a world with palpable similarities to the West: pop music, glamour photos, consumerism and (undeniably) a class-system.<p>I had a similar feeling watching the 1969 hungarian movie "A tanú" ("The Witness")[0].<p>While the movie is about communist Hungary, it is interesting how some of the themes are common to satire of any disfunctional organization (incompetents that get promoted because of politicking, clueless people in power, nepotism, unjust punishment etc).<p>It's a pretty funny movie, and there's a recently restored version so it should be possible to find it if you try a bit.<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witness_(1969_Hungarian_film)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witness_(1969_Hungarian_fi...</a>
Strange how the meaning of "political correctness" has shifted, since it was coined to cover the deployment of "political officers" ( <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_commissar" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_commissar</a> ) enforcing adherence to communism within the Soviet military and wider society. All of these films were made under a strict political censorship system.<p>(Russian cinema is legitimately great, though; why not watch the traditional pre-launch Soyuz quarantine film, "White Sun of Desert"; <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066565/" rel="nofollow">https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066565/</a> It's rather like a more cynical, more Russian "Dollars Trilogy" film)
The “political incorrectness” angle is really an unnecessary and very stupid aside that tarnishes an otherwise decent piece:<p>> Nor could [Office Romance] be much less politically correct. One can only imagine what a modern HR-manager would make of Office Romance, of its “power-imbalances”, “problematic” attitudes and “inappropriate” behaviour. That said, the same HR-manager should at least pause to wonder what, in doing all we can to make such relationships shameful and unfeasible, we’re also doing to ourselves.<p>The correct answer of course is that any professional, HR or otherwise, prioritizes facts over nice stories in movies. And the facts are that many supervisor-subordinate relationships are exploitative, often start from illegal harassment, and in any event are bad for business. Putting concepts like power imbalances and inappropriate behavior in scare quotes is just creepy and indicates sexist contempt for victims of workplace sexual harassment.<p>Markowski is clearly working in his politics here (which are largely centered around hyperventilating about “cancel culture”), but even by the standards of the genre it is particularly gross to suggest that the only people concerned about bosses who sleep with their employees are the PC Prudes who run HR.
> What’s interesting about Afonya is its picture of Soviet life at a time when we were told all was grey, unsmiling misery there. Instead it’s a world with palpable similarities to the West: pop music, glamour photos, consumerism and (undeniably) a class-system.<p>Facebook/Instagram effect in old cinema. You don't post grey misery unless you can make it meaningful. The same applies to movies. Nobody would watch their own life either. There's a lot of grey misery available in a sarcastic take though. Polish cinema of the time has lots of that as well.
I find it curious how the phrase “politically correct” entered western political language as as self-critical satire by the left (presumably in reference to Soviet political officers), before being transformed into criticism by right-wing commentators, to the situation of being surprised that the Soviets didn’t care about power imbalances and what we would now regard as inappropriate behaviour.<p>Such linguistic shifts happen a lot (title of this forum included), but nonetheless tickles my mind whenever I see it.