Visuals Archives - Russia Unlocked

What are the best films with conservative themes?

Conservative Themes on Screen in nutshell.

My Top Three Films to turn you into a conservative.

(The list below is based on my understanding of conservatism as a life strategy focused on detecting incoming threats and defending your perimeter.

As a conservative, I don’t believe in “good news”. The good news is no news. No news is good news. Change is mostly about things turning bad, or worse. Death is the ultimate Change Agent. Nor do I trust progress. “Progress” is an illusion, a mere projection of spiraling complexity of the outside world, cold and indifferent to man.)

1. “Black Hawk Down”, by Ridley Scott

The tale of President Clinton’s misfired “humanitarian mission” in Somalia in 1993. A brilliant exposé on how the best of plans to help out people in need turns into an orgy of death and destruction, where the bravest and the innocent are the first to get killed.

The bluish color palette is bled for light. The ageless ethnic-inspired musical theme is soaked with pain and sorrow. The final scene where heavily armed Americans run home to their base through a devastated cityscape peppered by rounds from ghost-like locals clearly tells you the bottom line. In this world, consider just staying alive for another day as a success. Anything above that is a precious blessing that won’t last long.

2. “The Wire” (TV series)

It’s the best TV series of all time to me. It’s a paradox how strongly the team of its liberal creators projects the central message of conservatism: the mission of man is to keep the Devil down in the hole, for as long as possible. At the end of the day, the Devil always breaks out—but don’t let it happen on your watch!

The iconic Clay Davis’ line is a hilarious soundbite to illustrate how progressives almost always play the Devil’s hand in the best-intentioned of their endeavors. Sorting out their mess falls on the conservatives. But never mind. As Murphy’s Combat Laws postulate, “Anything you do can get you killed. Including doing nothing.”

3. “Hard to be a god”, by late Alexei German

A dark, depressing piece for select film connoisseurs.

A progressive Earthling tries to save few feeble shoots of science and enlightenment among humanoids in some medieval extra-terrestrial universe. People there live unhappy lives in squalor and dirt. The black-and-white scenery reeks of stale sewage, an unkept slaughterhouse, smoke from damp firewood, and vintage BO.

It takes a particular passion for art movies to sit it out for the movie’s entire length. In keeping with Russian storytelling traditions, it’s protracted, verbose, loaded with attempts at collateral storylines and obscure cultural allusions. “If you’re bored, this is not made for the likes of you”.

What the movie does though, is vividly show life through the lenses of Russian progressives. Over many centuries, they’ve been agonizing finding themselves in an ocean of poor, uneducated, apathetic, often hostile and downright sadistic commoners, and their thieving, arrogant, ruthless rulers. A few bold attempts to profoundly make a difference ended in misery for millions, like in 1917 and 1991.

This slow-moving train wreck of a universe is suffused with conservative wisdom. Some houses cannot be put back in order, no matter how much resources and firepower you have. Let them burn if they want to. But for God’s sake keep them from burning your house!

Putin as a fashion statement

The photo below shows a creation of a Putin fan, a UAE designer Mona al Mansouri.

President Putin is presented on the dress as a winged angel in his signature white judo getup. He is surrounded by cherub, one of which holds above his head a laurel wreath. The orb of the Earth he’s holding in his hand suggests the wreath is being given to him by heavenly powers as a savior of the world.

We had a lot of friends across the world in the Soviet era, too. But this is something new, what appeared first in the post-Soviet period.

Back during Soviet rule, the sympathy to our country was mostly ideologically based—because we promoted the anti-Capitalist, anti-Imperialist politics.

Today, it’s much more focused on Putin personally, or on the image of Russian military might, or the picture of Russia as a guardian of “white European” legacy. I don’t remember a single case in my time in the 1970s of 1980s when someone loved what we do because our General Secretaries “looked like real men”, or our military was considered “cool”.

“Girl and her Red Army Trooper”

The picture below “Girl and her Red Army Trooper” was painted in 1920 by Samuel Adlivankin. It shows a Communist soldier spending quality time with a working lady over a Marxist study book.

The book cover says: “Politics 101”. The man is wearing the distinctive uniform of the Red Army. Red troopers inherited it from the Imperial army in WW1. The nationalist designers made a pointy hat to mimic the medieval helms of Rus warriors. The red razgovóry across the chest also mimicked the ethnic decoration from the pre-Imperial era of Muscovy.

The man’s boots are most probably taken from the military supplies sent by the Allied powers to the Czar and the Provisional Government, and taken by local Soviet troops from busted warehouses around the country. The wall is adorned by a portrait of Karl Marx. The phonograph and the sofa were most probably confiscated from counter-revolutionary elements for the benefit of exploited masses.

The USSR and universal health care

The Soviet experience confirmed that even with the best of efforts health care ends us just like any competitive race. Even though all the runners in a race start equal, they finish unequal.

I lived both under the real Socialism and Capitalism, so I have sort of 3D optics on the issue of universal health care.

Impractical beauty

Universal health care is one of particular implementation of equality. As such, I view equality very much like heavenly sex. It’s perfectly possible, people have experienced it, and everyone have pretty much the idea what it is like. Yet, it’s a very, very elusive animal. The problem is, it doesn’t last long, it’s very hard to get to, it’s often very impractical, and most attempts to get there are doomed to end up in an abject failure.

“Health for all”

With health care, you are in the same situation as with universal education, and universal security: there’s no way any society can have “too much” of it. Unlike good sex, there’s no natural limit to how much of it we can take before we say: “This is simply too good, we must put a limit to it.”

In addition, we’re all awfully unequal in health. Some people are born perfectly healthy, never catch as much as a flu, live to 100, no problem. Many more people are in need of health care throughout the whole life. Also, there are hypochondriacs. On top of it, there are too many people who knowingly try to abuse the system.

The Implementation Hell

Communists in the USSR hit the problem pretty much right away when they introduced the universal health care. As long as it was about pretty basic things like maternal care, shots for kids, fixing broken limbs and bandaging wounds, it worked decently. But once we went up in quality and scope, we ran into the same darned problem as the US:

some people contributed much without getting back what they needed when they needed it
some people needed much more than the system could afford to provide
some people abused the system
some people used their privilege to get access to more (or much more) than the contributed themselves

Useful slogan

The Soviet experience suggests that health care issue is destined to remain a bottomless source of inspiration for populist politicians. It will go on as long as we won’t know how to make our bodies smooth reparable machines on a simple malfunction insurance plan.

Below, a poster from the 1930s: “He is a malingerer. He’s fine, but fakes illness, to shirk from work on insurance. He steals from the genuinely ill and fails the work requirements.”

Single mothers in the USSR

The concept of Real Socialism requires an ability on the part of the State to take care of single mothers. Trials and tribulations of revolutionary wars lead to huge attrition of men. The Communist cause needs new generations of strong, healthy warriors, and Soviet women had to step in, in a well-organized fashion.

During WW2, an entire generation of young men was killed or starved to death. In the wake of the Second World War,the USSR became a nation of single mothers.

Feminization of society

Even when new generations of men reached maturity, the profound trauma WW2 had caused would persist for decades to come. Men found themselves too spoiled for choice— and this was greatly amplified by the economic and political emasculation that Real Socialism dealt to Soviet males.

In the 1960s and 1970s, many men, pampered by single mothers, simply found it too troublesome to fit the role of family providers. The abortion rate soared, alcoholism went rampant, divorces became the new norm. Toward the end of the Soviet rule, weak, irresponsible men—contrasted with strong-willed but unhappy women—became the staple of Soviet storytelling in books and movies. (E.g. take a look at this Soviet movie classics: Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, or Business Romance)

Safety net

On the other side, the concept of Real Socialism required a solid semi-permanent militarization of society in order to make it able to take a shock from massive losses of men during revolutionary wars. This involved a universal safety net for women. The Soviet rule needed to take care of mothers and their children so that the nation would get new numerous and healthy generations of men for the next wave of revolutionary wars.

Cradle to grave

Jobs for all
Food rations for all in employment and/or food stations at workplaces
Shelter provided by the employer, even if this often meant a corner in a barrack or a room in a shared apartment
Universal education and healthcare
Maternity protection and daycare for kids
Organization of off-school activities for children while single mothers were at work or taking care of their daily chores

The level of all this was rather basic, often primitive. But for many formerly peasant women who experienced the devastation and poverty of several wars, famines, lawlessness and robberies by the Soviet state, this was a marked improvement in living conditions.

Below, a painting “Mommy’s helpers“, by Vladimir Khodyrev, from 1955. WW2 annihilated millions of Soviet men. Adult males are often absent from family scenes in the art of this period.

Here, the older sister is bossing around her little brother, who is tasked with washing the floor. The tired mother is relieved someone can take some burden off her shoulders at home. The post-war years marked the start of three decades of voiceless, passive, alcoholized men who proliferated during the last period of Soviet rule. (This is also reflected in porn tastes of Russian men. The specialty of modern-day Russia-produced porn are scenes where a young, passive male is aggressively courted by a decisive older female.)

Picture: “Mommy’s helpers”, by Vladimir Khodyrev (1955).

Six visuals that illustrate Russia’s history

Outstanding pictures illustrate the key points of Russia’s civilization

Origins

Our nation was founded as a business enterprise of a few Scandinavian tribes and their Slav associates along the trade route between the Baltic and Black seas, with occasional thrusts toward Caspian sea and the Turkic and Persian markets.

Trade in the land of East Slavs by Sergey Ivanov — Picture: “*Trade in the land of East Slavs*”, by Sergey Ivanov. 1909. The era’s main commodity, slaves, is given the center stage.

Empire

During the XVIII century, Russia became transformed into the largest continuous land empire through a massive infusion of Western technologies and German administrative talent. In the painting below, Russia’s coming imperial destiny is represented by the kid in European clothes to the right, the Prussia-style troops in the background and jesters challenging the natives with their Western-style entertainment. Old Slav and Turkic aristocracy to the right, along with Ivan V in the center, are not amused, while Peter the Great in his practical Russian kaftan is boisterous and excited. Peter’s German entourage are skeptically contemplating the scene.

Arrival of the Tzars Peter I and Ivan V for entertainment in Semenovo by Ilya Repin — Picture: **“*Arrival of the Tzars Peter I and Ivan V for entertainment in Semenovo*”, by Ilya Repin**.

Power as a national idea

The supreme national idea of Russia is power, embodied in the great Russian state (derzháva). Everything in our history is pinned on it. As a Russian subject, your worth is determined by how much you contribute to the wealth, might, and glory of our state, because it is the sole organizing force on the frozen, wind-blown, endless expanses of Eurasian plains. In the picture below, the clothing is Mediterranean, but the story is essentially Russian, archetypal for our civilization, where countless bright talents have been weighed and measured by servants of our Empire—and found wanting, or worse.

Picture: **“*What is the truth? Christ and Pilate*”, by Nikolai Ge**.

Revolutions and wars

“The Black Square”, by Kazimir Malevich. The year is 1913, but the painter already senses how the Great War is going soon to crack open in Russia a fathomless wellspring of human evil, that would reverberate through the rest of the century by unimaginable atrocities across half the world.

The Black Square by Kazimir Malevich. — **“*The Black Square*”, by Kazimir Malevich**.

Commoners

“Heroes of the First Five-Year Plan”, by Alexander Deineka. Rugged workers of mixed Soviet ethnicities walk through something reminding of the Pearly Gates. Their steps are weightless, faces overwhelmed, their path floodlit by a heavenly brilliance and blessed by the pagan goddess of victory. Millions of souls were spent in the XX century for the sake of the greatest project of social re-engineering, the Communist revolution.

Heroes of the First Five-Year Plan by Alexander Deineka — Painting: **“*Heroes of the First Five-Year Plan*”, by Alexander Deineka.**

War

The victory over Nazi Germany was the pinnacle of Russian history, an epic saga of self-sacrifice and human suffering. Like much else in our history, the fruits of the victory were appropriated by people who neither suffered or sacrificed anything.

Soviet infantryman on the march WWII — Picture: **“*Soviet infantryman on the march, WWII*.”**

Rich people flee Russia

Rich people leave Russia. And if they don’t, they send away their money. Rich people voting with their feet for the best country to live in, give an important insight into where the world is heading.

We have a proverb in Russia about “no place like home” that has a uniquely Russian twist to it: “Every wader boasts of her marshes” (vsyák kulík svoyó bolóto khválit). I’m one of these waders. However, in order to get to what people really think you need to weed out opinions dictated by the crowd mentality and the thirst for belonging.

Here in Moscow, the most vocal proponents of Russia as the best country in the world are people on the top—who also typically stash their money in Western offshores, buy property in Florida and around the Mediterranean, and keep their families in London, Paris, California and New York.

Which is why I put more trust in people voting with their feet, and placing their money where their mouth is. I look at the simple stats: where do people who can afford to move wherever they want, choose to live. The picture is rather straightforward: the Anglosphere and their globalized affiliates outperform the rest of the world hands down.

Info-graphics Net millionaire migration for some countries in the world — Infographics: Net millionaire migration for some countries in the world

How did Soviet propaganda portray the Allied powers during WW2?

During WW2, Allies were mentioned by propaganda for the general populace in a very measured way. No one should think that our victory depended on anything but our own war effort. Beside, no one knew how to explain why Western Imperialists were helping the Soviet rulers.

During WW2, the Soviet propaganda inside the country almost never mentioned the aid delivered by the Western Allies. The general message was that the US, like the rest of anti-Fascist humankind was on our side. (The word natsísty, “Nazis” had at the time some Western flavor and was rarely used).

Aware of the Allies

Occasional reports told how American workers and “common people of good will” watched with fascination the struggle of the Soviet Union. These American people firmly required of the ruling classes in the West—the attribute “Capitalist” was usually omitted for the occasion—to support the USSR. Faced with such a firmness, the rulers could not help but heed. Posters showing the American support limited imagery to the Stars and Stripes, with no faces, weapons or lend-lease items.

Non-subject

For common Soviets, lend-lease as a program of war help was a non-subject. They knew it was some kind of assistance coming from abroad, but the scale and value of it had never been widely advertised.

My father told me they had perceived the American shoes, spam, tanks and trucks just like an act of nature—like the Sun that breaks through the clouds, for you to dry your soggy uniforms and boots a little bit. You don’t talk about it much, you pull off your things and hang them out in the sunshine.

Unsafe topic

Canned beans and especially spam were well known among fighting troops, as were American boots. But the food and equipment that was to be distributed among troops, were stripped from American signage right after offloading in Soviet ports as much as possible. Generally, talking about America was not a very safe topic. Someone could be listening. Before the war, a lot of people worked with Americans and Germans who built our industries and infrastructure. Those who appreciated their work and their machines publicly were arrested for anti-Soviet propaganda in the form of “groveling” before Capitalism and denigrating the Soviet equipment and management.

War machines

The perception was probably different among the troops who were using a lot of American battle equipment, e.g. in the air force and tank forces. (American Shermans played a major role in taking Berlin, for example).

America came up much more often when political commissars talked to soldiers and officers about the absence the Allied troops fighting Germans in the West. The fact of Britain fighting the Nazis from the beginning was ignored. “Where is that frigging Second Front already?” was the recurring complaint that met much understanding among soldiers and civilians. Commissars used to present the Allies as cynical players who waited for us to bleed ourselves dry fighting the Nazis, just to jump in at very end, and grab the spoils of victory.

Visuals

Toward the end of 1944, posters started to consistently show anonymized figures of Western soldiers, like on the poster below.

Lets finish the beast in its lair — Soviet poster: “Let’s finish the beast in its lair!”

From the spring ’45 until the capitulation of Japan, there were even some posters showing smiling faces of the Allies. Newspapers also printed photos with happy faces of Brits and Americans socializing with our troops.

Soviet poster: “The friendship of the three nations guarantees an unbreakable peace!”

Number One

At all times, the narrative consistently stressed the leading role of the USSR as a conqueror of Nazism. The US and Britain were marginal players, involved in auxiliary battles, offering some vague, undefined help. On the poster below from before the Stalingrad battle, only the Soviet soldier is facing Hitler to deal him a devastating blow. The American and the Brit seem to be too scared to look Hitler in the face and rather look to the Soviet man for guidance and leadership.

Soviet poster Concerted strike — Soviet poster: “Concerted strike!”

Cold war

During the Cold War, the references to the Allied effort became fewer and more distanced. Read more about it here.

When I went to school, the lend-lease was usually mentioned in one sentence, or two as an example of the role of our Western allies in WW2. No statistics that could give an idea of the volume of help were given, apart from the number of shipments and sometimes the total value of help in US dollars. The bravery of British sailors dispatching the help was given more place. The demise of Convoy PQ17, along with the D-Day, became one of the most known episodes among our public.

Gorbachev, “Great Duke Michael”

At the start of the Perestroika, Mikhail Gorbachev enjoyed almost universal support in the USSR, even the religious part of the population.

Perestroika fan art from the mid-1980s in support of General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. The text is referencing Christian scriptures. “And then Prince Michael the Great will rise in defence of the sons of his people. Faith is dead without deeds.”

Christian fan art Gorbachev — “Great Duke Michael”

Coffin to Capitalism

Early Soviet rule saw a lot of improvised propaganda shows, with flashy, right-in-your-face visuals

A cable car in the Red Square converted into a coffin for Capitalists. This happened on the occasion of the 1st of May festivities in Moscow in 1927. The text says “Russian Capitalism. Now, it’s the turn for the foreign one.” The coffin is decorated by a swastika, a hangman, and an impression of the Grim Reaper preparing his tools for the Capitalist holdovers.

Red Square Russian Capitalism Now, it's the turn for the foreign one — Red Square in Moscow, 1927. “Russian Capitalism. Now, it’s the turn for the foreign one.”