The Cold War was a long period of political confrontation between the Western bloc, led by the United States and Great Britain, and the Eastern bloc, led by the Soviet Union, from 1947 to 1991. During this period, the two sides not only clashed in the diplomatic and international political fields, but also set off ideological battles in the cultural field, and films of different camps were also intentionally or unintentionally alienating cold war opponents.
U.S. Section:
In different historical periods, Hollywood's performance of the Cold War has different contents and ways, we selected 19 films, in the late 40s and early 50s, with anti-Soviet and anti-communist themes; in the 60s and 70s, the Cold War began to reflect, which became the background for the prevalence of feature films; in the 80s, because of the tough attitude of the Reagan administration, there was a nostalgia for the Cold War, and the films advocating violence were sold at the box office.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the outbreak of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the rapid rise of confrontation, and the increasingly strong anti-communist and anti-Soviet atmosphere in the United States became a common theme on the screen, pictured in 1951 "I Act as a Communist Party Member for the FBI", which portrayed the image of the so-called "Communist Party" in the United States: conspirators, plotting all kinds of violent activities behind their backs.
Between 1947 and 1954, more than fifty films with anti-communist and anti-Soviet themes were produced in Hollywood, and these anti-communist films in the fifties directly catered to the simple thinking logic of linking anything "evil" with communism in the society of the time.
Of these films, both from an artistic point of view and from the perspective of the "depth" of thought, the most noteworthy is the 1952 film My Son John, which is more like an emotional ethics film, and the emotional conflict takes place between the mother and the son.
In addition to some anti-communist propaganda films, the Cold War provided the setting for some films of the fifties, and some cold-war-related matters became the subject of the film, such as mysterious nuclear material and people's fear of nuclear power. 1955's Kiss of Death is one such film. The film uses the thriller and horror genres to articulate this fear.
Using the Cold War as the background for film storytelling has also become a common means used by some big directors. In the 1950s and 1960s, Hitchcock made some films related to the Cold War, such as Breaking the Iron Curtain (1966), the Cold War moved from the background to the foreground, and the description of East Germany allowed the audience to see a country that lacked freedom, lived on a tight basis, and many people longed for the Western world.
While making a positive statement of the Cold War, reflections and even criticisms of the Cold War have also begun to appear on the screen. The 1960 film Our Man in Havana was a poignant satire of the Cold War, telling the story of a fake agent involved in a real spy war, and some of the fake agents he concocted became victims of the real spy war.
If the stories in both of the above Cold War films took place outside the United States, 1962's The Manchurian Candidate was a political satire closely related to the United States in the Cold War. The film is complex, bizarrely conceived, and ironical, both satirizing political clowns such as McCarthy and targeting the Communist Party of the United States, playing a "red fear" card.
The famous 007 series of films is still filmed today, the original 007 was born during the Cold War, its prototype is also a member of the American camp in the spy war, in 1963's "007 Russian Love" Bond effortlessly captured the hearts of Many Soviet beauties.
The cult and fear of nuclear power in the Cold War was an important topic. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 made it even more obvious that the danger of nuclear weapons to the destruction of the world was at hand. Kubrick's "Doctor Strange Love" in 1964 used a strange way of imagining the fatal blow that nuclear weapons could inflict on humanity, and in the name of defending national interests, humanity is very likely to fall prey to this crazy behavior.
The image of Cold War paranoia also appears in the same year's "Bedford Incident", captain Feng Rande is such a paranoid, he wants to conquer his opponent and enemy - Soviet submarines, this paranoia comes from a fanatical belief, instinctively believing that the other side is to put himself in the enemy, and the way to protect himself is to put the other party in trouble first.
In contrast, the image of the hero of the Cold War also appeared on the screen. 1968's "Frozen Zebra Station" was one such film that glorified the heroes of the Cold War. The restraint shown by the captain in the film avoids more armed conflict with the Soviets, which may also reflect the gesture of the United States and the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
As a "hot war" during the Cold War, the subject of the Vietnam War was also popular in the 70s and 80s, and the reflection on the Vietnam War occupied the main body, such as "Deer Hunter" in 1978, and there were only a few scenes directly related to the war in the film.
In 1979, Coppola's "Apocalypse Now", led by Marlon Brando, told the crazy people in the background of the Vietnam War, in addition to showing different levels of crazy sections, Coppola also showed the process of crazy development through the behavioral and psychological changes of Willard and his party, showing how human beings returned step by step from the so-called modern civilization to the most primitive state.
In 1984, MGM produced a film that boldly imagined the Soviet Invasion of the United States, "Red Advent", which was known as the "Second Cold War" era in the 1980s, and Reagan wanted to revive the national prestige after taking office, greatly increased military spending, and took a tough attitude toward the Soviet Union. In a speech in 1983, he called the Soviet Union an "evil empire", and in the same year proposed the establishment of an anti-missile strategic defense plan, which was directly directed against the Soviet Union.
Kubrick's 1987 "All-Metal Shell" portrays the fate of two ordinary American soldiers during the Vietnam War, and "Fool" Bill committed suicide after shooting and killing an instructor on the eve of his graduation from a new barracks because he could not withstand the huge pressure during military training. The Joker was then assigned to the Army News Group. In the interview, he saw that his companions at that time had become numb and cruel.
In this period, it is natural to be indispensable to the traditional "fearless, one enemy and one hundred" American heroes and good men, Stallone became a movie star because of the "Rambo" series in the 80s, he fought the Vietnamese army and the Soviet army with his personal body in 1985", and the audience watching it was boiling with blood, but at the end of the film, he borrowed the mouth of the character to say ": I hope the country loves us as much as we love her." ”
Superhero Rambo returned in 1988, and Stallone appeared in Afghanistan in Rambo 3, with more explosions, bigger scenes, and the grandiose "jihadist" slogan, once again crushing the Soviet army.
Rocky 4 (1985) is a film directed and starring Stallone, in which Rocky fights a boxing match with Soviet Hercules, and Rocky finally defeats the "polar bear" with wisdom and personality. This film, which is based on patriotism and national spirit, has been a great success, marking the climax of cold war films.
1986's "SadNess Mountain" brought the actual behavior of the Real Thing, the U.S. invasion of Grenada, to the screen for the purpose of propaganda for the Cold War. The film expresses the heroism of the U.S. military and servicemen through Eastwood's tough guy image, and provides ideological support for the reinvigorated national prestige of the late Reagan era and the policy of cold war containment.
Soviet part:
Unlike popular commercial films in the United States, although Soviet films rarely countered the alienation of the United States head-on, they focused on the glorious image of the Soviet army and the Soviet people in war films, intentionally or unintentionally weakened the United States, and won international praise through several excellent feature films, which was a wonderful counterattack against the United States. We selected 14 films to illustrate this period.
At the beginning of the Cold War, during Stalin's reign, the Soviet Union mainly filmed films on the theme of promoting social collectivism and the great achievements of the Soviet Union in World War II, and "Rural Female Teacher" in 1947 tells the story of an ordinary rural female teacher who finally showed an extraordinary spirit after most of her life. The film focuses on personal dedication and a strong love for the motherland.
The inclusion of patriotic education and situation policy education in films was a common creative method in Soviet films. The 1948 Young Guard is full of revolutionary passion and an impassioned tone, inspiring and educating the people with the heroism of the protagonist and the patriotic spirit of dedication to the motherland. This is absolutely different from the ugly Soviet films made in Hollywood, and has established its own glorious image internationally.
The 1949 Conquest of Berlin is a typical film of glorification for the leader Stalin, which lasts nearly five hours and is divided into two parts, highlighting the foresight of the Supreme Commander. The battle, which was actually mainly commanded by General Zhukov, has no shadow of him in the film. At that time, Zhukov had already been charged with fabricating charges and sent to the Ural Military Region because of his high merits.
The Battle of Stalingrad in 1949 is a nearly five-hour epic film that calls on the army, the masses, and all kinds of materials, fully embodying the ability of socialism to "concentrate forces on great things." In this film that highlights the talents of leaders and commanders, Zhukov, who played a key leadership role in the Battle of Stalingrad, is also not mentioned.
Patriotic education in Soviet cinema was most concentrated in Films with world War II themes. The creation of Soviet war themes not only occupies an important position in the production of Soviet films, but also a remarkable phenomenon in world cinema. These films, which show the heroic resistance of the Soviet people and their selfless love for the motherland, undoubtedly played a role in publicizing the Soviet Union on a world scale. And in the film, it consciously or unconsciously weakens the Western camp.
After Khrushchev came to power, the liberation of the creative concept caused by the political "thawing" made Soviet cinema emerge after the Twentieth Congress, after the thaw, the fate of ordinary people in the war was cared for by humanism, and the "Forty-first" in 1956 portrayed the image of a flesh-and-blood female soldier of the Red Army, both revolutionary and human.
The Soviet films produced during the thaw period gradually got rid of the shackles of only praising leaders, heroes and big people, unlike the demonization of Hollywood, Soviet films gradually won the glory of the world, and 1957's "Flying South" told the tragic love story of a young man and woman in love in the war years filled with smoke.
As soon as the film came out, it caused a sensation in the entire world film industry, and won the Palme d'Or at the 1958 Cannes International Film Festival with its beautiful contrast of light and shadow and excellent use of lenses. The film embodies the "poetic" artistic characteristics of the world-renowned film industry. Director Karatozov believes that "the ideas and intentions of producing a film should be expressed through the color of a broad poem." A real movie must be a poetry movie! ”
The 1959 Soldier's Song depicts the love story of Alyosha, a 19-year-old messenger, and the film contains war, nostalgia, love, friendship, motherhood, sacrifice, and is an epic poem of a boy. It is worth mentioning that the film was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 34th Academy Awards in 1962.
During Brezhnev's reign, the struggle against liberalization from a political point of view. The anti-Stalin tendencies and humanitarian tendencies that appeared during the thaw period were corrected. Some of the acclaimed films and creators of the "New Wave" period have been criticized. The creation began to tighten, but the classic "Liberation" appeared, which was divided into 5 episodes and 8 hours long, combining epic and documentary.
From the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, the new leadership of the Soviet Party and government began to gradually adjust the policy of film based on the international and domestic situation. From a single educational function to an entertainment function that recognizes it, 1972's "Here the Dawn Is Quiet" invisibly concealed and perfectly displayed patriotic education in the world of light and shadow, touching countless people.
In the film "Here the Dawn Is Quiet", there is poetry everywhere, so that the narrative and lyricism have reached a perfect combination, and the solemn tragic atmosphere and the spirit of heroism, patriotism and romanticism are perfectly integrated, which is shocking at the time, both in terms of ideological content and art form. The film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 45th Academy Awards.
In terms of formal and policy education, the Soviet Union concentrated on a number of films specifically designed to cooperate with the Soviet Union's foreign policy. Soviet officials have pointed out that films should be made specifically to show political events on the international stage, and that it should become a powerful weapon in the ideological struggle on the international stage. For example, in 1973, "This Is a Sweet Word — Freedom" shows two lines in the revolutionary struggle through a fictional story.
In 1973, "Courtesy Visit", the script depicted the so-called "courtesy visit" of a rocket cruiser of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet in a Mediterranean country, openly voiced the voice of competing with the US imperialists for maritime supremacy, and publicized the international policy of the Soviet Union.
In 1975, a new version of "How Steel is Made" reshaped The fearless spirit, the will of steel, and the infinite loyalty to the party and the people, Paul Kochakin, the outstanding collectivist moral color in Soviet culture, coupled with the strong humanitarian tradition in Russian culture, the organic integration of the two has made people have a beautiful vision of socialist production and lifestyle.
1977's "Darkness Envelops Chile" is also a film that illustrates the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, which has little international influence because it mainly reflects international class struggle, and has not been welcomed by audiences at home.
1981's "43 Years of Tehran" is an exception to these films, the film is set in real history, in a cross-time and spatial way to record the spy story during the 1943 Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin triumvirates in Tehran, the film has a grand theme but no ups and downs, the main line of the Soviet secret agents' battle of wits has always been lightly unfolded, without the grandstanding of Hollywood blockbusters.
The film was one of the few co-productions of the time, and then with Gorbachev's rise to power in 1985, the Soviet film industry banned not only a number of Stalinist films, but also a number of films that had previously been regarded as heretical and imprisoned for many years, and the theme of the film wave of this period was "black". Soviet films, in turn, reflected the real situation in the country and no longer fought with the United States.
Looking at the films of both sides during this period, it is not difficult to see that the United States focuses on alienating the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union focuses on promoting itself. More than half a century of the Cold War has spawned Cold War films involving many aspects of the Cold War, which are witnesses to the Cold War, participants in the Cold War, and transmitters of Cold War culture. The trajectory of the Cold War can be more or less corroborated by these films.