Stalin's favorite film
People keep saying that like it's a bad thing, like that's somehow supposed to reflect poorly on the movie. I don't understand how Stalin liking it is supposed to hurt it. Even if I subscribed to the ridiculous propaganda picture of Stalin as a monster like Hitler, I still don't see why it would hurt the movie. Personally I think it's just an interesting bit of trivia.
There was once an old joke, the difference between a Hollywood musical and a Soviet musical. In the former a boy and a girl sing of their love for each other, while in the latter, a boy and a girl sing of their common love for the new tractor.
The Soviets had plenty of romance too... And I don't see why the Soviets shouldn't celebrate their modernization. They went from being a backwards peasant country to a modern industrial state, a process that took Europe a century and the Soviets did it in a decade (and without having to pillage the Americas, Africa and Asia to do it). The achievements of the Soviet Union merit celebration.
The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of history.
-Mao Zedong
reply
share