I think the matches were valuable as a source of fuel. If you remember, they dried their oceans for fuel.
However, the analysis is correct. Dye price was probably based exclusively on demand, which in turn led to a lot of inequality, just like diamonds. This is not far from our reality. Water and food costs almost nothing even if it's the most useful resource for us.
I also agree that Plyuk is indeed a post-capitalistic society. Imagine the US or China continue to polute the world as they have so far. Imagine now that they deplete water or food sources. Now imagine they wage wars to gain control of these. Now imagine that the problem only gets worse over time until there's no food for the citizens of the world-conquering country. In that society, the poor would starve first. Repeat over a 1000 years and human population would end up in a desert were pretty much everyone alive is a descendant of rich people and thieves.
In such society, even the lowest class would have above average skills, and would probably take advantage of anyone they can in order to survive.
Plyuk is what capitalism would do to a post-apocaliptic world. As a chilean, I kind of see the US going that way, so I'm pretty sure the soviets had that in mind too.
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borzov
7 years ago
The thing about soviet movies was that they were all sanctioned by the state/party so they had to follow the communist party "general line" otherwise they got shelved or not made at all. On the surface this movie is a satire of capitalism but on a deeper level it is also a satire of soviet life. It's pretty sublime so not to provoke authorities to censor it but it's there and most soviet people got it. See, soviet society wasn't quite egalitarian. It had a kind of "elite" which was determined not by the amount of money they had but by the access they had to things most people could not have. It wasn't really a satire of the soviet regime per se but it had these little things that were all too familiar for soviet people. For example the scarcity of the basic goods like matches or water hit very close to home for them.
Of course you can still take this movie at face value if you want. Sadly the deeper level which makes this movie really great will be forever lost for anyone who never lived in USSR.
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jriley555 (7048)
9 months ago
Thank you. I think it is both an overt anti-capitalist parody, underneath a covert anti-soviet parody.
Certainly, the bribery and corruption would be facts of life known to them all - the scarcity of goods, the surveillance, the abuse of authority.
I very much enjoyed this film - its broad comedy, ridiculous props - it was a fatuous romp not devoid of meaning, insight. Also the touching humanity & comradeship running through it all, among the main characters.
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