Soviet science fiction. Through thorns - to the viewer

Soviet science fiction is an unprecedented phenomenon in the world cinema. In the gold fund of the film industry it is adequately represented by "Stalker" and "Solaris".

Post-Revolutionary Film Fiction in the RSFSR

It's no secret that the cinema in the USSR inmostly of propaganda nature. Soviet fiction was aimed at popularizing the idea of ​​a world revolution. Vivid examples of ideological pictures are:

• "Iron Heel" (1919) - a screen version of the novel by D. London. In the film, archaeologists of the future examine documents in which the death of capitalism is described.
• "The Ghost is wandering around Europe" (1923) -adaptized "anti-capitalist" screen adaptation of the novel "The Mask of Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe.

Fantasies about the future war

Soviet science fiction of the 1920sis characterized by an aggressive orientation, there are films of fantasy on the subject of military confrontation between the capitalist world and the young Soviet Republic:

1. "Aero NT-54". According to the storyline, the protagonist, an outstanding engineer, invented the most powerful engine for an airplane, and immediately the bourgeois spies hunted him.
2. "Communist" ("Russian gas"). The film tells about the Soviet discovery of some kind of paralyzing gas that would help win the war against capitalism.
3. "Death ray". A cardinal film for that time, it tells that in the USSR ray weapons are invented and transmitted to foreign proletarians who, using the invention, overthrow the power of tyrants-capitalists.
4. "Napoleon-gas." In this tape, the plot idea was inverted, that is, the vile bourgeois created a deadly gas and tried to overthrow Leningrad with it.
5. "Miss Mend." Deprived of its connection with the literary original, the screen version of the Soviet epic fantasy adventure novel Marietta Shaginyan tells only about another failed attempt of capitalism to destroy the USSR.

"Look for Aelita!"

Soviet fiction in 1924 was replenishedan outstanding masterpiece, recognized by the world community of classics of cinema. The film "Aelita" by Yakov Protazanov is based on the story of the same name by AN Tolstoy. The picture pays more attention to showing the life of the post-revolutionary RSFSR. And the so-called "Martian" part of the movie is staged in the spirit of expressionism. The main heroine - the daughter of the ruler of Mars Aelita - decides to overthrow the dictatorship of his father Tuskub. At this time, two earthlings fly to Mars - the engineer Los and the military-Red Army man Gusev. They actively support the uprising, which after several failures is crowned with success. But, to the quick disappointment of the representatives of mankind, becoming the ruler of the planet, Aelita establishes the same tyranny.

Film reviews and screen versions of literature

In connection with the stricter requirements of the party toculture post-war Soviet fiction deepens into folklore, in the rental of kinopaskazki and screen versions of works of classics of Soviet, Russian and world literature:

• folklore kinoskazki - "Morozko", "Varvara-beauty, a long braid";
• literary - "The Tale of Lost Time", "The Kingdom of Curved Mirrors", "
• the adaptation of the literary classics - "Deer King", "Man from Nowhere", "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", "Wake Mukhina".

Soviet fiction was considered to be an "ideologically ambiguous" direction, so it was rarely awarded state financial support.

Political "thaw"

In comparison with the 1920s and 1930s, the 1960s were a periodpolitical "thaw", and the filmmakers received more freedom. Hopes for the renewal of Soviet society were embodied in the stage of "romantic" screen versions of the literary sources of the twenties and thirties. So there was the best Soviet science fiction:

1. "Scarlet Sails" (1961).
2. "The Amphibian Man" (1961).
3. "Hyperboloid engineer Garin."
4. "Three fat men" (1966).
5. "Running on the waves" (1967).
6. "Cain XVIII" (1963).
7. "Ordinary Miracle" (1964).

In space for a dream

Soviet fiction about space, along with"Aelita", "Planet storms", "Andromeda Nebula" and "Alien", is presented by several motion pictures, which have been unanimously named important breakthroughs in Soviet cinematography. Such films are:

1. "Guest from the future."
2. "The alien ship."
3. "Kin-Dza-Dza!".
4. "The Third Planet."
5. "Charming aliens."
6. "Do not fly away, Earthman!".
7. "The Dungeon of the Witches."

New directions

New directions in film fantasy of the era of the USSRare represented by the horror film "Viy" (1967), the romantic comedy "His name was Robert", the adventure drama "Stalker" (1979) and the adapted insurgent "The Curse of the Snake Valley". The Soviet film industry after the 70's often resorted to the genre of fiction. The directors of the USSR found in her the most successful expression of their feelings and thoughts.