‘Instructor’s name’
April26, 2013
Essay
Films and poetry generally offer the viewer or the reader a trip into a fantasy world which serves as an escapade from the not –so-perfect reality. But certain Russian art works try to produce the opposite effect. They aim at bringing before the viewer’s eyes, the reality that was prevalent in the Soviet Union. They prove that the official picture of a happy and contended society, projected by the soviet government is a lie and brings before the viewers eyes, all the faults that are prevalent in the system and aims at bringing a social change. There are certain literary and art works that took the bold step of exposing the negative effects of the communist ideology and the corruption that forced the Soviet population into living a disgruntled life in a dwindling economy. Let us take a look on five selected works of movies and literary work which directly or indirectly illuminated the world about the Soviet reality.
- Little Vera
This film by Vasili Pichul, which was released in the year 1988, reveals how the social structure of the then Soviet Union, trapped the young generation of the country by restraining their opportunities. It talks about a troubled and a restless teenager who lived during the time when Soviet Union was nearing its end. The protagonist Vera is a young girl, living with her mother and an alcoholic father in a small middle class dwelling. Her parents are in constant disapproval of her rebellious ways and want her to be more like her brother Victor, who is a doctor. Her boyfriend, whom she finds in an underground party, cannot even find a place of his own and comes to live with her in an already overcrowded house, after marriage. The movies goes on to narrate how the going becomes tough after that, with many reflections of the little or no hope that was prevalent in the waning years of the Soviet society.
Vera’s choice in life is to attend a local college and land on a job in the telephone exchange. While asked by her boyfriend about her future goals, Vera sarcastically replies that in the Soviet, one can have only communism as a goal. Thus she implies that the lives of many youths, such as her, are restricted by the communist ideology. The Soviet system dictates what they should do and not do and stops them from utilizing their full potential and suppresses their freedom.
- Moscow to the End of the Line [Moskva-Petushki]
Moscow to the End of the Line [Moskva-Petushki, is a pseudo-autobiography written by Venedikt Erofeev. The story is narrated in first person with lengthy monologues by Venya, an alcoholic intellectual during a train journey. Though this prose was written in the year 1969-70, it was able to be published in the Soviet Union only in the year 1989. Till then, it was released in various countries like Israel and France. To understand the true meaning of this prose one has to look at the life of the author too. Venedikt Erofeev’s father was imprisoned for 16 long years due to one of Stalin’s purges and he grew up mostly in an orphanage. He was ousted from the Moscow University because he didn’t sign up for the compulsory military program. Though he tried many other institutions after that, he never really managed to complete his education because he was expelled from all these institutes because he had a behavioral problem, which was free thinking.
Much of the apathy which the protagonist displays in the book stemmed from the author’s real time experiences. The story starts when Venya has been expelled from his foreman job in a cable laying crew. He was dismissed because he made charts consisting of the alcohol consumption patterns of himself and his friends. During the journey he befriends many passengers and discusses politics and philosophy and the general life in the Soviet Union. At the end he is chased by a gang of thugs and murdered. The novel emphasizes on the growing gaps between the official culture and the public culture of the country. It highlighted to the west, the ideological hypocrisy and the cultural crisis that surrounded the soviet people. It depicted how the society has become lawless and shattered the official happy image of the growth and progress under the communist flag as projected by the Government.
- Sofia Petrovna
Ever since its publication in the year 1988, this novel by Chukovskaia, is acclaimed by critics more as history than as fiction. It narrates a heart moving story of a young Soviet widow during the rule of Stalin, whose son is imprisoned. She later loses her job and without any source for food, falls prey to malnutrition and retreats into an imaginary world. It also had another version published in the year 1967 named “the deserted house”. This novel was written when Soviet was going through a very rough phase and the author too had to undergo serious personal trauma with her husband being imprisoned for 10 years. This explains the emotion of bereavement so touchingly conveyed in the novel.
Through this pathos story, the author reveals to the Western world the kind of socialist realism that was prevalent in the Soviet Union. Particularly the mass arrests and victimization of men with any sort of alternate ideology and the effect it had on the female community are clearly depicted in the novel. The character Sofia Petrovna, had little or no concern about the world outside her home, until her husband’s death and her son’s imprisonment. Then she wakes up to the harsh reality of the outer world and through her eyes the author also reveals to the countries outside the Soviet, the manner in which rights and livelihoods of people are squandered in the name of ideology.
- Requiem
Requiem is a lamented collection of lyrics penned by Anna Akhmatova, which were written secretively, during the years between 1935 and 1940. The lyrics mainly depicted the sufferings that common people had to endure under Stalin’s rule. This work was suppressed by the Stalin regiment for a long time and finally was published in Munich in the year, 1963. It was not published in the Soviet Union until 1987.
The collection comprised of ten poems each reflecting various emotions underwent by the people in the Stalin era such as, horror, despair, terror, devotion and suffering. Particularly it movingly narrates the harrowing of women that was common in the 1930s Soviet Union. There is a poem which talks about how desperately women wait outside the Leningrad prison just to get a glimpse of their loved men. Requiem is a graceful and well written poetry, but one has a deeper purpose than just entertaining the reader. It rather aims at educating and inspiring people for a social change.
- Kolyma Tales
These are a collection six tales written by Varlam Shalamov. Each of these stories, describes various incidents that take place in a Soviet labor camp. The author wrote these stories in a period spanning almost 20 years (1954 to 1973). The author himself has worked in these camps and these stories are part fiction and part autobiographical. The stories describe the life of the workers and their troubled relationship with the officers managing the camps. There is an unofficial statistics, which state that over three million people met their death in Kolyma camps. The camp housed both political prisoners and other offenders. The physical and the emotional wounds such forced labor inflicted on the workers are explicitly depicted in these stories. It also sarcastically states how hopes or future plans made by the prisoners last just for hours, and then they heed back for their normal back breaking routine. The stories just convey the life of the prisoners and leave the interpretation of their plight to the readers.
All these above mentioned works have played a crucial role in bringing the atrocities committed by the Soviet Government to the notice of the outer world. Some art works not just stop with entertaining or conveying a message. They go one step ahead and lay the foundation for a social change. All the works discussed above has in one way or the other has had a huge impact on the Soviet society.
