Movies on Soviet Union

[Whoisjohngalt]

There have a lot of good movies about Nazi Germany: Schindler's List, The Pianist, Life is Beautiful (although this last may be trivializing the holocaust).

Ayn Rand was the first to write a novel on the real Soviet Union. Similarly, are there any good movies on the Soviet Union which expose the reality of living conditions of the ordinary people there?

[D'kian]

There have a lot of good movies about Nazi Germany: Schindler's List, The Pianist, Life is Beautiful (although this last may be trivializing the holocaust).

Ayn Rand was the first to write a novel on the real Soviet Union. Similarly, are there any good movies on the Soviet Union which expose the reality of living conditions of the ordinary people there?

There's Ayn Rand's "We The Living."

She had nothing to do with the making of it, but there is a version approved by her. There is an interesting back story, too. Let me know if you want to hear it.

Other than that, I don't think there are many movies portraying the evils of the Soviet Union. There are som, surely. In "The Hunt For Red October," a submarine's officers defect en masse, alon with their sub. That says a lot abou the system these men no longer choose to serve (and the book says more). "White Nights" deals with a Soviet defector re-trapped by the USSR (sort of), and an American "defector" living there (he wants out, but I think he remains anti-American).

I hear dof one made in the late 90s, too, but I can't recall the title or much of anything else. I'll try to look it up. I think the title was somethign along the lines of "East West"

[Feanor]

"Enemy at the Gates". It's a British film starring Jude Law who plays a Soviet sniper in the battle of Stalingrad in WW2. It shows the brutality of Stalin's reign especially the appalling sacrifical treatment of Red Army soldiers.

[LaszloWalrus]

There have a lot of good movies about Nazi Germany: Schindler's List, The Pianist, Life is Beautiful (although this last may be trivializing the holocaust).

Sorry to sidetrack this thread, but how do you think Life is Beautiful trivializes the Holocaust?

[Qwertz]

If you want to see Soviet Russia from Soviet Russia's point of view, there are:

1) Eisenstein's Октябрь ("October" or "Ten Days That Shook The World"), dramatizing the October Revolution and expanding, to deleterious effect, on Eisenstein's application of Dialectic Theory to film editing;

2) Vertov's Человек с киноаппаратом ("Man With a Movie Camera"), a positively nauseating "experimental documentary" on life in Soviet Russia, purporting to be "an experimentation in the cinematic transmission of visual phenomena without the use of intertitles ... script ... actors ... [or] sets."

In the genre of Soviet nuclear submarine movies, there are The Hunt for Red October and K-19: The Widowmaker.

However, if you're looking for American films dealing directly with the history of Soviet Communism, you won't find them.

-Q

[Whoisjohngalt]

There's Ayn Rand's "We The Living." She had nothing to do with the making of it, but there is a version approved by her. There is an interesting back story, too. Let me know if you want to hear it.

Yes... please do let us know.

Sorry to sidetrack this thread, but how do you think Life is Beautiful trivializes the Holocaust?

I meant to say that some people think that way. See: this for example. However, I thoroughly enjoyed that film.

[~Sophia~]

Similarly, are there any good movies on the Soviet Union which expose the reality of living conditions of the ordinary people there?

Soviet film industry was a part of the government so if any material was found politically undesirable, it was either shelved or edited. Communism had to remain uncriticized in its fundamentals in whatever was released. Sadly, the collapse of the Soviet Union brought a virtual end to quality cinema in Russia. Today low-quality action, comedy, and pornography predominates.

If you are interested in the realities of communism (and anti-communist movements) I would recommend movies by Polish film director Andrzej Wajda, especially his two films Man of Marble and Man of Iron. I like his earler films too (I was very fond http://forum.objectivismonline.com/uploads/emoticons/default_banghead.gif' alt=':dough:'> of an actor Zbigniew Cybulski when I was younger). Two other Polish directors worth mentioning are Krzysztof Kieslowski and Agnieszka Holand.

All 3 caused some some raised eyebrows within the Polish government (Wajda's production company was forced out of business).

[D'kian]

Yes... please do let us know.

I will when I have the time. Sorry. I'm moving this week and have tons of work to attend to this week. But I'll post the backstory to We The Living when I can, unless someone else cares to do it first.

[D'kian]

Yes... please do let us know.

Ok.

In 1942, there was an Italian production of We The Living. It was meant as anti-communist propaganda. But the novel isn't merely anti-communist. It is pro-life and pro-freedom. And this was reflected in the movie as well. Although successful, the movie was banned, the copies gathered and destroyed.

Sometime after WWII, Ayn Rand got a hold of it. I don't know what legal issues transpired, but she retained ownership of the film as it was derived from her wok. In time, I forget the exact dates, Rand allowed an altered version of the movie (with some cuts) to be released.

I caught it once on TV and mannaged to tape it. Alas, the tape sucumbed to a malfunctioning VCR <sigh> But I believe it is available, although possibly only in VHS. Try this link first http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0035130/trivia If you look it up, try both the English title, We The Living, and the Italian one, Noi Vivi.