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#22 - JRL 2009-69 - JRL Home
Russia Profile
April 13, 2009
A Thorn of a Truth
Even Though the Subject Matter of Russia 88 May Be Controversial, to Ban the Film Would Mean to Sweep the Issue of Russian Fascism under the Rug
By Albina Kovalyova

A new film has sparked reactions across Russia’s social and political spectrum, broaching issues of censorship, morality and nationalism. The audience appears to be divided into those who believe that portraying young fascists is an important part of the effort to understand the psychology and influence behind their violence, and those who think that the film simply glamorizes skinheads.

The Russia 88 “mockumentary” has no clear beginning. The viewer is simply thrust into the aggressive world of a fascist gang in the midst of their vandalizing and violence on the Moscow metro. It soon becomes apparent that the filming is being done by one of the gang’s members who is documenting their world.

Due to its controversial subject, the film has encountered distribution problems in Russia. Reportedly, a phone call from the government to the jury of the first international film debut festival the Spirit of Fire, held in Khanty Mansiysk, precluded Russia 88 from receiving the first prize. The filmmakers do not know who the call was from, but would certainly like to. They have been told by journalists that the latter have been discouraged from writing about this matter.

Rumors that the film has been banned are backed by speculations that the portrait of Adolf Hitler that the gang members quickly flip over when visited by the police, only to reveal Vladimir Putin on the other side, has offended the government. Others believe that it was a scene in which a member of an “official” ultra-right group offers the fascist gang a license and a legitimate right to act as part of this group­a clear insinuation that the government actually resorts to such tricks to attain its goals.

But despite the difficulties that this low-budget picture is facing, its producers hope that it will be released in the very near future. Anna Mikhalkova, one of the film’s producers and the daughter of the notorious film director Nikita Mikhalkov, as well as a well renowned actress and a producer in her own right, said that she decided to get involved with this film because of the importance of its subject matter and the necessity for it to be accessible to a wider audience.

The main subject matter of Russia 88­Russian nationalism and its racist tendencies­is a topical one. The names of the real victims of Russian Nazi groups are displayed on the screen just after the closing shot of the last scene ­ over a hundred people were killed in racially motivated attacks in 2008. And the film’s pseudo-documentary style actually does have genuine documentary elements to it: as part of the narrative, the members of the fascist group, dressed in neutral clothing, calmly interview members of the public outside bus stations and inside trains, asking people whether they believe in “a Russia for Russians.” The film’s director Pavel Bardin said that the film crew “wanted honest responses from people, and so the actors stepped out of character so that the public would not feel intimidated.” Most of those questioned agreed that Russia should be primarily for Russians, and that Russian jobs should be filled by the country’s citizens.

Pseudo-interviews with the gang members reveal an attempt to understand the reasons behind people’s involvement in fascist activities. Most do not have clear answers, but the group’s leader, named Blade, does. “I decided this when I became very afraid. I suddenly realized how many of them there are in this country. And there is no space for me. They are taking my jobs, they are after my sister, using her to register at her apartment,” he says in the film. The “they” he is referring to, of course, are non-Russian immigrants.

The creators of Russia 88 hoped that the film would address the wider phenomenon of xenophobia in the country. The explosion in Russian nationalism is partly the work of the government. As more immigrants flock to Russia, the country’s ethnic Russian population diminishes and its demographics change, the government tries to boost patriotic morale by promoting national pride and discouraging anything that would make Russians ashamed of their country.

Bardin said that the film elicited various reactions from real fascists, but most agree that the film’s portrayal of skinheads is realistic. “There were only a few details that these people thought were not authentic, such as the kind of clothes that fascists wear. Now they look very neutral, and do not wear any identifiable fascist clothing,” he said. In the film, the characters wear the tight trousers, boots and braces sported by British skinheads in the 1970s, and their band plays homage to the Oi! music movement of the same era. Some of the characters’ clothing bears references to the American white nationalist David Lane.

The film’s director strove for a realistic portrayal of fascists in order to understand them and include them as viewers. “I believe that there should be a dialogue with these people, and not just ostracizing them from society,” Bardin said. And this democratic approach to discussing prominent and uncomfortable issues has worked in this film.

The film’s screenings have produced lively and sometimes heated discussions in various cities across Russia, as well as outside the country at the Berlin Film Festival. The biggest issue is whether the film’s protagonist is portrayed as a hero. Blade is a stocky young man tattooed with Nazi symbols. He is tough with his girlfriend (one of the scenes suggests that he is going to rape her, although from her reaction it is unclear to what extent she is a willing participant of this sadomasochistic relationship). Blade and his friends drive around looking for migrant workers they can beat up, and attacking such “black-asses” is part of his passion.

Despite the main character’s violent tendencies and the murder of his sister and her boyfriend at the end of the film, some audience members believe that Blade’s character is likable. Following a public screening at the Tsvet Nochi café in the center of Moscow, one of the viewers said: “Well, ultimately he is a nice guy. Ok, so he may have slipped a bit by shooting someone, but ultimately this is an amicable character.” The same viewer, who introduced himself as Sergei, said that despite being present in the affluent restaurant where the screening was held, he had grown up in a similar environment and with similar people to the ones portrayed in the film. He believed that such people would interpret the film as a glorification of fascists.

Indeed, many in the audience agreed that the film would cause a reaction opposite to the one the creators hoped for, and would acquire a following­hence the question of whether the film should be distributed widely. Many believe that the film will simply aggravate existing nationalistic and aggressive tendencies. However, the film’s creators believe that banning such a film would mean banning the idea of a dialogue between the fascists and other members of the public­a dialogue that the film’s screenings have so far successfully evoked.