Paul
Goble
Staunton, January 10 – Klim Shipenko’s
dark comedy “The Slave” has set box office records in Russia, Sergey Aksyonov
of Svobodnaya pressa says, because the sympathies of viewers for the
Russian serf who revolts against his masters flow from the current situation of
most people in Russia today.
“The gap between ‘the elite’ and the
rest of the population,” he suggests, “is becoming ever more intolerable;” and this movie allows
Russians to think about it in ways that may simultaneously allow them to let
off steam in non-violent ways and focus their anger at those who are oppressing
them now (svpressa.ru/culture/article/253884/).
The film’s message was perhaps
unintentionally magnified by Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s decision to hand out money
on the Manezh Square on January 5. He referred to “children, invalids? Who else?
Orphans, serfs, slaves,” words that immediately attracted attention and are
going to be the subject of a Duma ethics hearing next week.
KPRF deputies are furious at the
LDPR leader’s words, but his defenders say that he simply described “the true
relationship of the feudal strata off-shore oligarchic vertical” to Russians
and that was useful. Zhirinovsky’s words
and actions were repeated by others, including by a wealthy Chechen in
Volgograd ho handed out money as well.
One way or another, Aksyonov
continues, “it is obvious that in Russian society two hemispheres have formed: ‘the
elite,’ ‘the new nobility’ which includes politicians and bureaucrats,
including part of the opposition and
regional barons and part of business, and everyone else, ‘the slaves’ and ‘the
serfs.’”
“The former have power and control
property; the latter serve them.” Consequently, it is no surprise that the
majority of the latter aren’t happy about the current arrangements and would
like to have things changed.
According to the commentator, this
situation has intensified in recent years because now the children of the elite
are trying to succeed their parents, something that suggests Russia is really
moving in a neo-feudal direction and that those on the bottom have no hope of
rising anywhere at all.
“The Slave” isn’t the only Russian
film with a message, Aksyonov says. The authorities have backed another, “The
Union of Salvation” about the Decembrists. Its “moral” is “simple” – any revolt
will end in failure, exactly the view that those on top in Russia today hope those
on the bottom will continue to have.
Dmitry Agranovsky, a lawyer and human
rights activist, says that there are plenty of reasons for the masses to hate
the elites, but he argues that “we do not have the traditions of resistance
that exist for example in the West. We are accustomed to think that ‘the people
and party are united.’ But for a long time, they haven’t been.”
“Sublimation of these feelings gives
rise to the popularity of such films as ‘The Slave,’” he says. People want to
believe that those on top can be removed and those below can despite everything
rise to the top.
Social psychologist Aleksey Roshchin
agrees, although he suggests that it is overstating the case to argue that
Russia now has a strata-divided society. It takes “centuries” for such a
society to come into existence. But
clearly people feel injustice, and watching a film like “The Slave” is one way
to deal with unarticulated anger.
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