Soviet cinema during the war. Part 1. When art strengthens the spirit
So that art could fulfill its function of preserving the moral and cultural values of the people in wartime, the Soviet Government decided to evacuate the union of writers, artists, other creative teams, theaters, conservatories, film studios deep into Russia and to the capitals of the republics of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. There, conditions were created for the creative intelligentsia in which they joined in active work for the sake of a common goal - the approach of Victory …
The unexpected attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, changed the life of the entire country in a short time. For 14 years of relatively peaceful existence, Soviet people were guaranteed to receive from the state a sense of security and safety, which was lost in the very first hours of the war.
The government was required to take decisive military action against the enemy, and concrete measures capable of supporting the citizens of the USSR.
In the very first days of the war, people did not have the opportunity to receive complete information about what was happening on the fronts and in the occupied regions. Then no one knew about the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress by the soldiers of the Red Army, about the first rams in the air undertaken by Soviet pilots in the skies over Belarus and Ukraine.
"Brothers and sisters!"
Stalin's radio address to the people, which sounded through street loudspeakers only on July 3, 1941, began almost with the biblical words "Brothers and sisters!" Subconsciously, the laconic Stalin chose the most expressive speech form capable of focusing listeners on the main meanings of his appeal.
The survival of the Soviet people, dispersed over 1/6 of the land, was possible only through the consolidation of the entire people around the core, which at that time was the AUCPB and Stalin himself. At the first stage, it was necessary to calm down the population and instill in them confidence in our unconditional victory. This function was taken over by newspapers, radio and cinema. System-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan helps to see the mechanisms of the influence of art, including cinema, on masses of people and to reveal the reasons why this influence inspired us to Victory.
Cadres are everything
Almost the entire Soviet creative and literary intelligentsia received a reservation from Stalin. This means that she was not drafted into the ranks of the Red Army to fight the enemy. The "Father of Nations" understood very well that there was no warrior among the pianist, violinist or film director.
But the olfactory Stalin, who skillfully disposed of personnel, knew exactly how important a good specialist is in his place. The senselessness of using personnel for other purposes can lead to the failure of a large mechanism called "State". The olfactory agent, using methods of coercion and encouragement, and even just by his mere presence, makes each member of society fulfill his specific role. The primitive law, which has not become obsolete to this day, says that the survival of the flock as a whole depends on the collective labor in which each individual is invested.
So that art could fulfill its function of preserving the moral and cultural values of the people in wartime, the Soviet Government decided to evacuate the union of writers, artists, other creative teams, theaters, conservatories, film studios deep into Russia and to the capitals of the republics of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. There, conditions were created for the creative intelligentsia in which they joined in active work for the sake of a common goal - the approach of Victory.
Combat film collections
Thus, the film studios evacuated to Alma-Ata, Tashkent and Ashgabat did not reduce the output of films. The state, waging one of the bloodiest wars, found funds to finance the studios, so the film industry in the USSR was not curtailed. Cinema only temporarily changed the subject matter and increased the genre variety. Full-length films were replaced by short films and film concerts.
The expressiveness of the plot and the brevity of appeals, in the style of revolutionary slogans, were easily remembered by both the soldiers leaving for the front and the civilian population. "Everything for the front, everything for victory!" - these words called both to battle and to the machine. It is impossible to cheat under such a slogan. The director was responsible for every shot of the footage.
In the first days of the war, all Soviet filmmakers, without waiting for orders from above, got involved in the creation of new projects, unlike the pre-war ones. Fighting film collections of an agitational nature pursued the goal of raising the patriotic and fighting spirit of the Soviet people.
Cinema as a visual propaganda tool, first of all, required a new art form - simple, understandable, easily recognizable. Favorite movie characters appeared on the screen again, according to the plot, set in the new proposed wartime circumstances. These were the well-known Maxim (Boris Chirkov) from the Vyborg Side movie, the letter carrier Dunya Petrova (Lyubov Orlova) from the Volga-Volga movie, the soldier Schweik, the hero of the book by Yaroslav Gashek, and many others.
The guns and tanks of the fascists are smashing, Our pilots are flying to the west.
Black Hitler vile power
Spinning, spinning, wants to fall.
Boris Chirkov 1941
They exposed, ridiculed the enemy, presenting him as exaggerated and caricatured. The heroes inspired by word and song, called on the Soviet people to defend the Motherland, called for revenge for the burnt cities and desecrated lands of the Soviet republics - Ukraine and Belarus.
“In Leningrad, Badayevsky food warehouses were on fire, bombings began, and we composed and filmed for the front. One thing was important: the screen, hung in the dugout on two ramrods stuck between the logs, was supposed to fight,”film director Grigory Kozintsev recalled.
From a professional point of view, the fighting film collections were not very artistic. However, the contribution they made to raising the morale of soldiers at the front and Soviet people in the rear cannot be overestimated.
We know how to live for the glory of the Motherland, we do not regret our lives in defense of the Motherland
In these appeals, all the properties of the Russian urethral-muscular mentality were revealed, which are especially clearly manifested during the period of wars by the courage, courage and willingness of people to give their lives for the protection of the Motherland, for the sake of justice and peace on Earth.
The urethral-muscular mentality is inherent in any citizen who grew up in the territory of the former USSR, even if there is no urethral in the set of its vectors. The system of urethral values, instilled in us by our parents and society, forms in our consciousness an urethral mental superstructure, which we carry through life and pass on to future generations.
For a while, the lyrical theme disappeared from theaters and cinema. It was replaced by patriotic plays and films. Pictures about love, which were shot by sound-visual filmmakers for visual people, faded into the background. The new projects were designed to mobilize the internal forces of every citizen of the country, to raise the degree of urethral return according to the principle: "My life is nothing, the life of a pack is everything."
This system of values, based on justice, mercy and self-sacrifice, was intended to reflect the cinema of the second half of 1941.
Initially, action film collections included 4 to 5 short films. The idea of their creation consisted in the rapid production of inexpensive visual and propaganda film material, reflecting the behavior of your favorite movie characters in the events of the first days of the war.
What? Was ist das?
The Germans skewer from us
Less than a week before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the premiere of the first short film "Cinema Concert of 1941" took place. It was one of the last peaceful works of the Lenfilm film studio, consisting of choreographic, musical and vocal numbers performed by the stars of Soviet opera, ballet and stage.
The most famous and beloved artists - ballerina Galina Ulanova, pianist Emil Gilels, opera singer Sergei Lemeshev, performer of folk songs Lydia Ruslanova and many others - starred in Kinokontsert.
This film was filmed for the purpose of showing it on the distant borders of the Motherland, where Moscow and Leningrad artists could not reach. Only cinema gave the inhabitants of a huge country the opportunity to see their idols on the screens of cinemas and enjoy their art.
Initially, "Kinokontsert" was created with an educational, cultural goal, which is usually realized by people with a visual vector. During the war, the collection of music was named "Concert to the Front" and became no less powerful weapon than military film collections.
It seemed that all the oral artists of the country were involved in the creation of the "Concert to the Front". Jokes, mockery of the enemy caused laughter from the viewer. The laughter caused by the daring ditties and performances of Mikhail Zharov, Vladimir Khenkin, Arkady Raikin relieved the stress of the war, helping to keep super-stress on the front lines and in the rear.
To give the Nazis heat
And fry like morels, Will sing ditties Zharov, With him for a couple N. Kryuchkov.
Olfactory wise, it was Stalin's decision to preserve the sound-visual creative intelligentsia, mobilizing them to fight on the cultural front.
Lyrical and patriotic songs performed by skin-visual singers and actresses of the highest level of culture and sensuality emotionally stimulated the soldiers of the Soviet army. They awakened the highest feelings in the soldiers, boundless love for their distant loved ones and an irreversible willingness to sacrifice themselves for the sake of protecting their home, Fatherland, and victory over the enemy.
Both the text, and the music, and the voice, and the performers themselves raised the spirit of the soldiers, brought the soldiers to such an emotional height at which the value of the life of the whole nation was felt above the value of their own life, which is absolutely complementary to our urethral mentality, in which the life of the pack is always above its own. In such a state, each fighter was ready to give his life for others, such an army was invincible!
Seeing Ruslanova - and dying is not scary
The pilots, veterans of the Great Patriotic War, recalled how, returning from combat missions back to the squadron, so as not to get lost on the road, they kept a course on the "Radiocompass" - an onboard radio direction finder. Navigation was carried out using signals from ground radio stations, which often broadcast songs by Lydia Andreevna Ruslanova, Klavdia Ivanovna Shulzhenko, Lyubov Petrovna Orlova.
Singers with concert crews were frequent guests at the front, performed in front of soldiers, sailors, pilots, wounded in hospitals. They were believed, loved and expected.
Once a fighter, listening to a record with songs performed by Lydia Andreevna Ruslanova on a gramophone and not knowing that a famous folk singer was standing next to him, admitted: “He sings well! If only I could see her with one eye, and there it is not scary to die”.
In peacetime, these performers' concerts and tickets were not available, and in wartime, their voices and stage image became a guiding star leading to the Great Victory.
Part 2. When art helps to survive
