THE REVUE - Sydney 08
June 16th 2008 13:35
(Germany, Russia, Ukraine).
Dir: Sergei Loznitsa
One mans propaganda is another mans nationalism. That’s how the story begins in the short lead-up to this collage of film from director Segei Loznitsa.
During the heavy periods of the Cold War between the USSR and the USA, Sergei Loznitsa became a master at portraying the Russian proletariat in as the force behind the success of Communism. Fascinating Archival footage has been pieced together of perfectly preserved and sequenced black and white footage from Soviet Agitprop newsreels of the 50’s and 60’s.
The film opens with fragmented pieces of workers on what appears to be a communal farm as the toil together for the good of the collective, whether it be cutting a hole in the ice to help catch fish for everyone or preparing the seed for the next years crops. Loznitsa is careful to potray these people as carefree and optimistic striving towards a greater goal when all the earlier efforts will finally be rewarded.
Theatrical plays of the period also feature as the actors play to packed theatres espousing the virtues of Lenins idealogy, a cause now taken up by Krushchev and the Soviet. Just because you may be hungry and cold today doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work towards a better tomorrow.
This is the underlying theme throughout the film as the director moves from the farms to the factories and workers continue to sing the praises of the State working above and beyond what is expected of them by increased productivity.
Soviet voice overs as crowds gather to hear a speech praising the working class from the Krushchev though never quite seem to unify with the pictures as we are told of the happiness in peoples hearts and minds while the people themselves look tired and exhausted from struggling with an model of industrial and economic endeavor that aren’t quite achieving what they are supposed to.
It is easy today to sit back and smirk at what we all now know was a failed attempt to create some form of Utopia. At one point as workers speak of their happiness with their lives and their hopes for the future, it is as if we are looking at an advertisement on TV for Trade Unions or other political motivated representatives questioning the government but not quite accusing them of failing to deliver on promises made in the past. While the words are coming out of their mouths, the pictures tell a different story. All is not ideal in this ideal society.
The film, after a slow start, manages to engross the viewer revealing a brief glimpse of a period in time that is both amusing and serious almost simultaneously. Although the Soviet Union collapsed almost two decades ago, these ideals are still being upheld in differing shapes and forms scattered throughout the world. There are also those from the former Eastern Bloc countries that still hold true the benefits of Communist standards similar to that of the former Soviet.
But it is also a reminder that not everything we hear or see should be taken as absolute. Less than an hour and a half long, there is ample time in THE REVUE to get its point across. People can be deceived by what they see and here….. even today as they did then.
SJC
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SimonC
