Today American audiences will be treated to the Oscars Awards. Among the nominations for a best foreign language film is the Russian motion picture "Leviathan," a hard-hitting, bleak and depressing film about one man's futile struggle against corrupt city government. Russian authorities, and many in Russian society, have condemned the film as an unfair and biased representation of the country. In fact, it has been decried as "anti-Russian propaganda" at a time when Moscow is engaged in a struggle of ideas with the West over the conflict in Ukraine. Indeed, "Leviathan" could carry the day at the Oscars as a political statement against Moscow. If that happens, it wont be the first time a Russian film has caught the world's attention.
Sincere portrayals
"Leviathan" strikes a chord across Russia for its honest portrayal of a corrupt mayor who is willing to steamroll a regular citizen to get his way. The protagonist in the film has very little ammunition to fight such tactics, no matter how much he wishes to stay within the limits of Russian law. This happens regularly across Russia, as the laws and principles governing private property and individual freedom have remained in flux, and are pitted against the Russian state's growing role in practically every aspect of life. In other words, the film showed Russia as it is, rather than Russia as it wishes to be seen.
In 1981, the Oscar for best foreign-language film went to a Soviet motion picture, "Moskva Slezam Ne Verit" (Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears). Its release in the USSR caused a sensation across the country, and it is still enjoyed by millions to this day. The film centered on the life of Katerina, a single mother trying to make it in Moscow, and on two of her friends, Antonina and Lyudmilla. At once an unattainable fantasy of what could be achieved in the country through hard work, and a very realistic portrayal of attitudes that regular people had toward their difficult lives, the movie is famous to this day for its incredibly poignant one-liners and quotes. While the film ultimately strives toward a happy end for its protagonists, Katerina's, Antonina's and Lydmilla's struggles captivated audiences.
Katerina, abandoned by her boyfriend while in college and pregnant, strives to have an honest career and raise a daughter on her own, achieving a high-level post and a comfortable lifestyle. She is the embodiment of the motion picture's title - regardless of the difficulties life throws in one's way, success is achieved through hard work and dedication. Antonina and Lyudmilla are two sides of the same coin, showing at once how a Soviet woman should be and what she may actually be in real life. Reserved Antonina follows the proper stages in a young Soviet woman's life- dating a nice man, meeting his parents, getting married right out of university, raising kids, working at her job, taking care of her in-laws, and keeping up their modest dacha (summer home). "How boring," quips Lyudmilla about her friend in what would become one of the most quoted lines in the country. "First, they save money to buy a TV, then for a washing machine, and then to purchase a fridge. Everything is already predetermined for 20 years ahead, like a state planning agency. No room for anything else." In one line, she had described the entire lifespan of major achievements and financial freedoms allowed to regular Soviet people by the state. Meanwhile, Lyudmilla is on the hunt for a wealthy and well-connected husband that could provide the fairy-tale life she so desperately wants. Turning down offer after offer, she relentlessly pursues the elusive goal of material wealth in a city that, in her own words, is a "lottery - you can have everything in Moscow at once."
When Katerina and Antonina try to give Lyudmilla advice, she fires back another famous one-liner still quoted today: "Don't teach me how to live - instead, help me financially." While the film tries to be kind to Lyudmilla's needs, her pursuits result in only short-lived success, as her husband, a famous hockey player, quickly succumbs to alcoholism, leaving her once again single and in need of a companion in her late 30s - an age that Soviet society considered "way over the hill." When her co-worker notices how Lyudmilla fawns over a military general, she tells the heroine that "in order to be a general's wife, you must first marry a lieutenant." Lyudmilla never gives up: "I am an optimist - I was recently told that I should meet people at a cemetery that is frequented by widowed men."
The film spanned many such "winged" quotes, quickly fired off by film actors and picked up by Soviet audiences eager to comment on their lives without risking trouble with the authorities: "Singlehood is when birthrates are falling, while alcoholism is rising." Katerina herself is treated to a very honest compliment by her would-be husband Gosha: "You listen and listen and then suddenly ask a question, directly to the point. This is a male characteristic - some men even appreciate such a quality in women." "Sometimes you hear a stupid thing - turns out, it was somebody's point of view." "What if I say something off-hand," asks Katerina when Lyudmilla is preparing a meet-and-greet with young men. "So say it," quickly responds Lyudmilla, "but say it confidently. Its called a point of view." When Lyudmilla's alcoholic ex-husband begs her for money, she fires back that her "money press is broken." In the film, real-life, heart-wrenching situations were mixed with such humor to show that life's challenges can indeed be overcome - but at a cost. "You must make a good man, not get one that is already that way" hears Lyudmilla from her friends. "Look at your big stomach," fires back Lyudmilla at Antonina's would-be husband Nikolai. "It's not a stomach - its a knot of nerves," he responds.
The film is still very popular among Russian speakers across the world - despite being made almost 4 decades ago, the problems, issues, and concerns encountered by the female protagonists have not changed much across Russia. At once a comedy and a love story, it's a far cry from the heavy and depressing tone of the "Leviathan" - perhaps because this year's Oscar entry shows reality as it is today, when man and state are locked in an unequal struggle that cannot be joked away.
