Some time ago, there was a historical unpopular film that accidentally caught fire. When "Persian Lesson" was confirmed to be introduced into China, the trailer landed on Weibo and Douban dual platform hot searches, and netizens were asking what the film, which had not yet been released, had a score of 8.5.
▲ "Persian Language Lesson" is being released in theaters
Better than 89% of the feature films, "Persian Lessons" is based on real historical events and has received high responses in the non-competition section of the Berlin Film Festival and the Beijing Film Festival.
The film tells the story of a Jew during World War II who falsely claims to be a Persian and teaches a German officer Persian in a concentration camp. However, he knew nothing about Persian and could only make up a language out of thin air using the names of the Jews imprisoned in the concentration camps as a root word
The filming and art of "Persian Lesson" are superior, and the performances of the main actors are not very successful. After the release of the film, the audience attracted by the trailer has already purchased tickets to enter the theater, and the viewing experience is also well received.
When netizens were still curious about the production team behind it, they accidentally found that this was a film co-produced by Russia, Germany and Belarus. The film's director, Vadim Perlman, has worked on the Russian blockbuster drama "Betrayal", and the Douban score is as high as 9.1 points.
▲ Stills from "Persian Language Lessons"
As neighboring countries with close contacts, I believe that many fans know a lot about Japanese and Korean movies, but they know very little about Russian movies. Perhaps it is a shift in social structure, humanistic thought and ideology, and for the younger generation, Russian films are far less attractive than Japanese and Korean films with similar life scenes, or European and American films with special effects.
In fact, in addition to the generation of "Ha Ri", "Ha Han" and "Ha Mei", China also has a group of "Hasselblad, Kazakh Russia" groups. Most of them used to work related to Russia, learn Russian, and simply collectively remember the honeymoon period between China and Russia after the founding of the country.
▲ In Xu Zheng's "囧Mom", the protagonist Xu Ivan's name pays tribute to the Soviet movie "Ivan's Childhood"; his mother can talk freely with Russians on the train and go to Russia to participate in the chorus performance of the Russian song "Cranberry Blossoms"
Everyone in their mouths would sing popular old songs such as "Katyusha", "Hawthorn Tree", "Night outside Moscow", and when they saw Russians, they could also talk in simple Russian, "Halachot! "(Hello), Great Nirvana (goodbye), Yaliuba Liuba stuttering (love you) and so on.
For the parents and grandparents of the post-80s and post-90s generations, the ideal concept of the Soviets has shaped their values and outlook on life, and also occupied their humanistic life. People in the last century loved learning Russian, listening to Soviet songs, watching Soviet movies... The Soviet cinema, the precursor of Russian cinema that young people do not know today, is the indelible memory of the youth of the previous generation.
World pioneer of cinematic art
Soviet-era films (1920s-1990s) were pivotal in the history of Russian cinema, and their superb cinematic concepts were fully comparable to today's Hollywood, bringing people timeless emotions.
The development of Soviet cinema once led the world, and now Russian cinema has inherited its fine traditions: strong storytelling, diverse genres, rich artistic connotations, between commercial and literary. To learn about the history of Russian cinema, you have to go back to Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.
In 1908, the photojournalist Drankov (А.О. Дранков) based on Goncharov's script, Russia's first feature film, The Free Man of the Lower Volga, began its own national film development.
At that time, Russian film production was in the hands of private enterprises, and the technical conditions for film production were also very poor, which limited the improvement of the art of Russian film works. From 1908 to 1918, Russia produced 1,376 feature films, including adaptations of classical literature and historical feature films, but more shoddily produced entertainment films.
The Queen of Spades (1916) by Protachanov, adapted from Pushkin's work
After the October Revolution, the Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was established. The Soviets of that time faced the daunting task of literacy for millions of working people, and the role of popularizing the arts such as literature, painting and drama became the main policy direction.
Coupled with the leader Lenin's keen interest in watching documentaries, and paying special attention to the propaganda and social function of films, film began to become an art highly valued by the Soviet regime.
Portrait of Lenin
Lenin once said in lenin's article "Lenin on Culture and Art": "For us the most important thing in all art is cinema. On August 27, 1919, Lenin signed a decree nationalizing Soviet cinema and the state forming a studio to control the industry. This day was later designated as the birth day of Soviet cinema.
In order to cultivate film talents, in 1919 the Soviets established the world's first film school, now the Moscow State Film Academy. Soviet cinema soon ushered in its first highlight moment, the debut of the 1925 film Battleship Potemkin.
Moscow State Film Institute
▲ Battleship Potemkin
The film tells the story of the 1905 sailor mutiny on the battleship Potemkin, and the narrative line is not complicated, but it plays an important role in film history. Director Sergei Eisenstein pioneered the montage editing technique in this film, which shocked the world film world in the silent film era of the 20s.
▲ A classic scene of "Battleship Potemkin"
In the 1930s, sound films appeared, and the Soviet film industry also reached a peak. During this period, the Soviet Union proposed the creative method of "socialist realism", which can reflect historical events, socialist construction, and the real life of the workers, peasants, and soldiers, and the "Xia Boyang" directed by the Vasily brothers has become a milestone in this genre.
▲ Chinese poster of "Xia Boyang". The film is adapted from the heroic deeds of Xia Boyang, the commander of the Russian Red Army, in which the "spiritual war" is praised as a model of montage
During World War II in the 1940s, due to the influence of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union filmed a number of anti-fascist struggles and patriotic theme films, which became one of the most powerful means of wartime propaganda and mobilization of the masses. During this period, famous art films include "The Secretary of the District Party Committee", "She Is Defending the Motherland", "Zoya" and so on.
Documentary documentaries also came into being during the war years, which recorded in detail and truthfully many major events from the German fascist invasion to the complete destruction, and was known as the "Chronicle of the Great Patriotic War", including "The Great Defeat of the German Army under Moscow", "The Battle of Stalingrad", "Berlin" and so on.
▲ Movie poster of "Battle of Stalingrad"
However, World War II inevitably destroyed the Soviet film industry, and the reconstruction process in the early post-war period was not smooth.
After the end of the Great Patriotic War, Soviet filmmaking fell into a low tide of low production and poor quality. At that time, the government's policy on the film industry was extreme and restrictive, resulting in film practitioners becoming cautious and cautious, or whitewashing reality, and even unwilling to create again.
In particular, in 1946, the Central Committee of the United Communist Party passed a resolution criticizing films such as "The Great Life", "Ivan the Terrible", and "Ordinary People", criticizing the films for discrediting the reality of post-war Soviet society, distorting the image of the Party, and advocating backwardness and ignorance. The resolution makes it impermissible to describe the backwardness, negative factors and dark sides of life.
▲ "The Great Life" movie poster
At that time, most of the film themes were history and war, and the themes were concentrated on reflecting World War II and praising leaders and heroism, among which the more representative works were "Young Guards", "Conquering Berlin", "Rural Female Teacher" and so on.
▲ "Young Guards" Douban score 8.0
In the 1950s, after Stalin's death, changes in the soviet domestic political situation and literary and artistic policies brought new hope to the film industry.
At the Twentieth Congress in 1956, the CPSU criticized Stalin's cult of personality and dictatorship, began to reflect on peaceful counter-unjust convictions, and in 1958 revoked and corrected the erroneous resolution on the film "The Great Life".
▲ Stalin's period promoted the cult of personality
The creative atmosphere of the film became more relaxed than that of the Stalin era, so the subject matter, genre, style and style of the film were developed, and the entire Soviet literary and artistic circles ushered in a revival.
Feature films, documentaries and popular science films in this period developed rapidly, and in addition to traditional themes such as socialist construction, characters, and literature, there were also some films that touched on social phenomena. These films break through the spiritual shackles of the "no conflict theory", and while expressing the positive theme, they also show social contradictions and some negative things in life.
A new generation of filmmakers tried to break free from dogma and needles, so there were excellent films such as "Ivan's Childhood", "Soldier's Song", "Quiet Don", "The Course of Suffering" and so on. From the late 1950s onwards, the Moscow Film Festival was held every other year to screen films from all over the world, a tradition that continued until the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Ivan's Childhood is the first feature film by andrí Tarkovsky, telling the story of Ivan the Scout boy during World War II. The film won the Best Director Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival
▲ "Soldier's Song" Douban 9.1 points, telling a home experience of Alyosha, a soldier during the Great Patriotic War, and the story of meeting and falling in love with the young girl Shula on the train
In 1972, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union took measures to rectify the film industry, and the Soviet films of the 70s and 80s ushered in an unprecedented creative climax, and many classic masterpieces were born at this stage, and the themes of the works can be classified into four major themes.
In terms of military themes, soviet films in the 1970s focused on collective heroism in the war through the Great Patriotic War, revealed people's complex inner worlds through people in the war, and praised the beautiful qualities of ordinary soldiers.
Among them, the more influential ones are the Oscar for best foreign language film "War and Peace", the Soviet Venice Memorial Awards "Here the Dawn Is Quiet...", "Destiny" and so on.
War and Peace – a 400-minute epic film
▲ "Here the Dawn Is Quiet..." won the Venice International Film Festival Memorial Award, the All-Soviet Film Festival Grand Prize and the Lenin Prize
Among them, "War and Peace" took five years to complete, costing up to 560 million US dollars, which is the most expensive film in the history of cinema. The story revolves around the Russian Great Patriotic War of 1812, and is based on the emotional story of the noble lady Natasha and the aristocratic young Pierre and The Duke of André as a clue, reflecting the major events of 1805-1820, showing the style of Russian society at that time.
In terms of political themes, it mainly shows some major political events in domestic and international life, and although such films are officially valued, their selling rate is not high. Such as "The Sixth of July", "Freedom, It's a Sweet Word", "Tehran in 1943" and so on.
In terms of production themes, it mainly depicts the story of how contemporary heroes grasp economic laws to improve backward areas, reflecting how to strengthen the scientific management of enterprises under modern production conditions to meet the needs of economic development. Among them, "The Hottest Month", based on Bakarev's play "Steelmaker", etc.
In terms of moral themes, there are a large number of films depicting family and love, mostly revealing people's morality and feelings through the daily life of ordinary people, such as "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears", which won the 1981 Soviet State Prize and the 53rd Academy Award, "The Trick of Fate" directed by the famous director Elidar Ryazanov, "The Story of the Office" and "Cruel Romance".
Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears tells the story of 17-year-old Katerina falling in love with TV photographer Rudolf and finding true happiness after being abandoned
▲ "Two People's Station" tells the story of Pradon, who was imprisoned for a crime, when he took leave to visit his father before the trial, he was trapped in a train station and met and fell in love with Vera, a waiter at the station restaurant
▲ "Ugly Eight Monsters" shows an incomparably real but incomparably ugly children's world through the bullying phenomenon among children, exposing the selfish and dark evil thoughts of children and reflecting the dark side of society
Soviet cinema was once a unique film genre in the world film art, and its distinct and profound thinking, exquisite artistry and ornamentation occupy an important position in the history of the development of world cinema, even if it is placed in today's Western world, it is not lagging behind.
During the "Soviet boom" of the last century, Soviet cinema not only influenced the creation of Chinese films, but also sowed the seeds of revolutionary heroism, realism and romanticism in the hearts of Chinese audiences.
The decline and revival of the Russian film industry
The decline of Soviet cinema coincided with the decline of the Soviet Union. In the 1990s, the Soviet Union collapsed and the Russian economy was in deep trouble. The film industry, which was once the pillar industry of the national economic income, also did not get rid of the economic crisis in the process of transitioning from a planned economy to a market economy, and was once in a state of decline.
As Russian films lifted import restrictions, foreign films, especially American Hollywood films, flocked to the market, causing a huge impact on local films. The country's economic difficulties have also left the Russian film industry without financial support to emulate successful filmmaking in the West.
In addition, in the 90s, when entertainment methods increased, film as a form of popular culture has become less important to Russians. The number of people who watched movies fell sharply, with 2.5 billion people going to cinemas across Russia in 1988, compared with 75 million in 1997.
According to relevant statistics, at that time, a large number of film practitioners lost their jobs or changed careers, from 300,000 in the heyday of Soviet cinema to less than 100,000, and the annual output of films also fell from 150 in the Soviet Period to about 20 in the mid-90s. The Russian film industry in the 1990s entered an ice age.
However, in exploring the road of new film development, there have also been good as a strong shot for the Russian film industry that has been hit hard. In 1995, the Russian-French co-production "Scorching Sun", directed by Nikita Mikhalkov, won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
▲"Scorching Sun" tells the story of the former Soviet Union under Stalin's rule in the 1930s, due to the disaster brought about by the political movement, the protagonists are persecuting others for their own interests while being victims
In 1997, the film "Thief" won the Grand Prix at the 54th Venice Film Festival. In 1999, Nikita Mikhalkov's Siberian Barber was released, telling a tragic story of a Russian man and an American woman in two different cultural contexts, which once again caused a sensation in the world.
▲ "Thief" Douban 8.7 points
It was not until the new century, when the Putin government actively supported the film industry, that Russian films once again ushered in the dawn, and the circulation of films and the number of moviegoers slowly rose in twists and turns.
According to the film industry development plan in the "Outline for the Development of Russian Culture" promulgated in 2001, Russia carried out technical transformation of film factories, attracted funds and increased film production and improved the quality of films. By 2005, Russia had shot more than 100 films a year, and the market share of local films had risen from 7% to 20%. With the improvement of the economic situation, the Russian government's allocation to the film industry has increased year by year in recent years.
The right move quickly paid off, and as the creativity and international prestige of Russian cinema grew, Russian filmmakers began to be known to more audiences.
In 2003, The Return, directed by and directed by and directed by Andrei Zhvagintsev, won the lion's highest prize at the 60th Venice Film Festival, the second time in 40 years since Ivan's Childhood that Russian cinema won the award; in 2008, Alexei Germain Jr.'s Paper Soldier won the Venice Best Director Award; in 2011, Alexander Sokolov's Faust won the Venice Golden Lion.
▲ "Return" Douban 8.7 points
In recent years, with the increasingly close cultural exchanges between China and Russia, film cooperation between the two countries has flourished. In 2006, we began to hold a film week every other year; in 2013, the "Belt and Road" major international cooperation initiative was proposed, and the activity was upgraded to an annual film festival; in 2017, China and Russia signed an agreement on joint production of films, and the two countries began cooperation in the field of film shooting.
▲ The Sino-Russian co-production film "The Mystery of the Dragon Card" starred Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Chinese film market has also opened its doors to Russian films, and has introduced many excellent genre films, covering various themes such as war, science fiction, animation, sports, and love. Such as the war film "Ninth Company", "Stalingrad", sports film "Kill Munich", "Figure Skating Queen", science fiction film "Space Rescue", "The Fall of Moscow", comedy film "Christmas Tree", etc., can be described as a hundred flowers.
However, summarizing the domestic Russian film box office, it can be found that their market competitiveness is not outstanding.
In 2020, the only Russian film introduced, "Hunting T34", jumped to the top of the war film box office after its release in Russia, and although it also gained a good reputation after its release in China, the box office performance only exceeded 20 million.
▲ "Hunting T34" tells the story of a T-34 tank in the context of World War II, with one enemy and six enemies, single-handedly challenging the german Leopard tank column to escape victoriously
Even the highest-grossing film in domestic history, "Kill Munich", has not exceeded the 100 million yuan mark, compared with other popular movies, it can be seen that the audience of Russian films is not wide enough.
▲ "Kill Munich" tells the story of the Soviet basketball team that defeated the American team that held the record of total victory for 36 years in the final of the basketball championship that took place at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games
Perhaps, if Russian films want to make achievements in the Chinese market, they also need a phenomenon-level film that is out of the circle to lead everyone to increase their attention to Russian films, such as "Wrestling Daddy" that lets the public know Indian movies, "First Love This Little Thing" and "Model Student" that make young people novel about Thai movies.
With the deepening of cultural exchanges between China and Russia, more and more Sino-Russian cooperative film and television projects have opened, and it is believed that the Chinese film market will also usher in the "second spring of Russia".
bibliography:
The sophistication of cinematic concepts once made Soviet cinema https://kknews.cc/zh-hk/entertainment/b2g2lo.html that the West had nothing to say
The film list丨 Ten classic Soviet films, making a charm that transcends the times https://www.sohu.com/a/376281983_257537
Can Russian cinema only reminisce about the glory of the past? https://m.21jingji.com/article/20201214/herald/ca8603628c8e78744f61b584f4e4c868.html
Text: Skylar
Editors: Skylar, Batam