Oscar-nominated 'Leviathan' ruffles feathers in Russia

[Larry]

Oscar-nominated 'Leviathan' ruffles feathers in Russia

(Reuters) - Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev's Oscar-nominated film "Leviathan" has won acclaim around the world but is dividing opinion back at home, where some see it as a critique of President Vladimir Putin and Russia itself.

The film, a no-holds-barred look at how a corrupt local mayor crushes all who oppose him to arrive at his goals at all cost, has even prompted a Russian Orthodox activist to call for it not be screened in Russia.

A portrait of Putin that is often seen looking down on the mayor creates what many see as a link with the Kremlin and the Russian leader's governing style.

Putin critics say the story mirrors life in Russia in the 15 years since the former KGB spy first rose to power, with corrupt state officials enriching themselves and enjoying impunity.

Russia's Culture Ministry co-financed the film but now says it blackens Russia's image just to win international acclaim.

"Films focused not only on criticism of current authorities but openly spitting on them ..., filled with a sense of despair and hopelessness over our existence, should not be financed with taxpayers' money," Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said in a newspaper interview this week when asked whether the ministry would support similar films in the future.

Though "Leviathan" premiered in mid-2014, cinemas in Russia will start screening it only in February, with foul language muted to comply with Russian profanity laws.

The film, largely shot in the village of Teriberka on the Barents Sea in Russia's far north, has already won a dozen awards abroad, including a Golden Globe.

On Thursday, it captured an Academy Award nomination in the Foreign Language Film category along with four others.

MINISTER UPSET

The authors say their film was partly inspired by a story from the United States. Many in the director's home country, however, see it as aimed directly at Putin's Russia, though Zvyagintsev himself has sought to steer away from such links.

"It did not matter in what setting the  events of this drama unfolded. The story of conflict between the individual and the authorities is universal," Zvyagintsev's website says.

The director himself was not immediately available to comment.

Medinsky began complaining about the film last year when "Leviathan" received favorable reviews at the Cannes film festival, one of cinema's most prestigious events. He said he did not like the film's excessive profanity.

In an interview published on Thursday he complained to Izvestia newspaper, which is sympathetic to the Kremlin, that "Leviathan" had no positive characters. He said the story was not specific to Russia and could have been played out anywhere.

"I hope in the future Andrei Zvyagintsev, a very gifted man, will make a film with the assistance of the Culture Ministry that will not feature this existential hopelessness," he said.

"A film that will make one want to get up, get out on the street and do something good, right, without delays - right here and right now. You don't get that after 'Leviathan'."

Izvestia also quoted a Russian Orthodox activist calling for the film, which shows dubious cooperation between the mayor and local clergy, not to be shown in Russia because it vilifies the Russian Orthodox Church.

Putin, whose popularity soared over the annexation of Crimea in 2014 but could be threatened by an economic crisis, has not commented publicly on the controversy and few Russians have yet seen the film.

The success of "Leviathan" abroad gets limited coverage in mainstream Russian media, most of which are loyal to the Kremlin.

Zvyaginstev told the independent broadcaster Dozhd he was bewildered by the treatment he and his film were getting from state TV and that he felt himself being "isolated".

He said no officials congratulated him on the Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Language Film, the first such award for Russia after the 1969 triumph of "War and Peace" produced in the Soviet Union.

The last time a Russian film won an Oscar was in 1994 with "Burnt by the sun", an intimate study of a family destroyed by Stalinist purges in the 1930s by director Nikita Mikhalkov, now an outspoken supporter of Putin.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/16/us-russia-leviathan-idUSKBN0KP1JC20150116

Often films that win a Golden Globe award go on to win an Academy Award (Oscar).

Edited to add:
As I was doing some reading about the film I came across this:

Russian films may be denied a distribution license if they are deemed to undermine the country's "national unity," according to new regulations that critics have denounced as an attempt to make filmmakers toe the Kremlin line.

The regulations were supposed to take effect on January 1, but have been delayed because the Culture Ministry is still awaiting reviews and comments on the proposed rules from other government agencies, a ministry spokesperson said Wednesday, the Interfax news agency reported.

The regulations, drafted in November, state that a film may be denied a distribution license — effectively banning it from Russian movie theaters and television screens — if it "contains content defiling the national culture, posing a threat to national unity and undermining the foundations of the constitutional order," Interfax cited the ministry as saying.

Filmmakers and critics have been outraged by the prospect.

"What is national unity? This is a completely new term, it didn't exist in the past," the chief editor of Iskusstvo Kino ("The Art of Cinema") magazine, Daniil Dondurei, was quoted by Interfax as saying. "In the past, all we had was [the term] anti-Soviet propaganda."

"Censorship is just a mechanism, but this is an ideological doctrine," Dondurei said.

The planned introduction of the new requirements appears to be part of a wider campaign by the Culture Ministry to unify Russians around Kremlin-endorsed values.

Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky earlier this week called for Russia to "consolidate the state and society on the basis of values instilled by our history," and urged the creation of a "patriotic" Internet and the spread of like-minded films, radio and television content.

Tighter government control over cinematographic expression is also likely to affect the domestic distribution of Andrei Zvyagintsev's film "Leviathan," set to hit Russian cinemas in early February.

"Leviathan" earlier this week raked in a Golden Globe award in the best foreign film category and is a contender for an Academy Award in the same category.

Russians who watch "Leviathan" in theaters are likely to see an edited version, with harsh language removed from the film's dialogue in line with a law passed last year that bans the use of expletives in the arts.

The editing of "Leviathan" appears to be a harbinger of what is to follow.

The head of distribution company Kino Bez Granits ("Cinema Without Borders"), Sam Klebanov, said that the new rules, if enacted, would be unlikely to affect many foreign films unless they specifically deal with Russia-related topics, but warned they could effectively hobble the Russian film industry, Interfax reported.

"This is, of course, primarily aimed at bringing domestic filmmakers in line, and pointing out to them their place as the 'wait staff' in the new ideological hierarchy," he was quoted as saying by the news agency.

It remained unclear how cultural officials would decide whether a film is detrimental to Russia's "national unity" or culture.

"Who is going to decide that the culture has been besmeared? The ministry? The public? A court? And on the basis of what?" director Andrei Proshkin was quoted as saying by Interfax. "How do you determine legally that the [national] culture has been besmeared? And what can besmear a culture more in the 21st century than such laws?

"I don't doubt for a second that soon we will hear about malicious attempts to smear the national culture, and the banning of films," he said, adding that that would mark a return to Soviet-era practices.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-culture-ministry-moves-to-ban-films-that-undermine-national-unity/514440.html

[Slumba]

All the Russian news channels covered it when it won at the Golden Globes.

[shakespear]

I went and saw this movie last.

All I can say is "WOW"!

All of you Russiaphobes who are interested in learning about the "Russian soul" and how everyday Russians view their life and society, you ABSOLUTELY MUST see this movie!

I went with my step-daughter Julia and her comment was "That is exactly how life is in Russia today". 

Of course pro-Russian factions oppose this movie - it really doesn't present their society in a very good light.

The protagonist Koyla fails at every level when trying to protect his life, family and property against the powerful state/church combination.  Many of the scenes in the movie accurately portray how Russian friends interact with each other and are quite humorous and entertaining.  You'll get some practice with your "mat"  ;-) 

GO SEE IT NOW!   

[Fashionista]

Sounds intriguing

[NS1]

Was not on my list of must see, but is now
Thanks for the review.

[GuppyCaptain]

Thanks Shakie, I definitely will go see it now. However, upon reading about some of the going down in Russia, it's CLEARLY evident that it's being steered back into the Soviet ways.

[Volshe]

Was not on my list of must see, but is now
Thanks for the review.

Yes, indeed, thanks for taking the time to write the review, Shakey!