"There are no coincidences, but there is an invisible order." That's not an exact quote, I think, but it's close to something Oprah Winfrey preached on her last show today. So it's altogether fitting and just that shortly after watching her bid farewell to a select group of disciples, I got to see a film about another striking personality with a near religious following, Comrade Josef Stalin.
"Three Heroines" purports to be a documentary about three Soviet women military pilots who survived a plane crash in the wilderness and became lionized after their rescue, but it is really a mash note to Uncle Joe with a few tidbits of agitprop thrown in.
As the ladies tour the country on the eve of the Second World War, they too do some preaching. Comrade Grizubova proudly proclaims that Soviet women are fully the equal of any man, and if those dirty fascists dare to stick their filthy paws in Soviet territory, the fighting men AND women will repulse them. (Shades of Gospodin Charlton Heston!) Comrade Paulina Osipenko declares that America did not rescue Amelia Earhart after her crash because she could set no more aviation records for the barbaric capitalists. Comrade Stalin, she vows, cares deeply about each individual.
Comrade Marina Raskova keeps a promise she made to her cute little daughter Taniushka to visit her school. She thanks Stalin profusely for supervising every step of her rescue and for inviting her and Taniushka to the Kremlin for an intimate dinner with "the dear father" and a few party big-shots. "Why do we live so well here?", she asks the school assembly. "Because Comrade Stalin cares deeply for each individual." This film is so bad, and the selection of quotes so ironic, that it could have been made so only by design. At least that is what I would like to believe. How could an artist like Dziga Vertov, born David Abelevich Kaufman, possibly do otherwise? His skill in slipping satire past Soviet censors is on a par with the creators of Gilda getting their gay subtext past the Hays Office. I've rated it a 4 from 10, based purely on the humor, intentional or otherwise.
Some countries are luckier than others in their choice of idols. We have Oprah. The poor Soviets had Stalin.
"Three Heroines" purports to be a documentary about three Soviet women military pilots who survived a plane crash in the wilderness and became lionized after their rescue, but it is really a mash note to Uncle Joe with a few tidbits of agitprop thrown in.
As the ladies tour the country on the eve of the Second World War, they too do some preaching. Comrade Grizubova proudly proclaims that Soviet women are fully the equal of any man, and if those dirty fascists dare to stick their filthy paws in Soviet territory, the fighting men AND women will repulse them. (Shades of Gospodin Charlton Heston!) Comrade Paulina Osipenko declares that America did not rescue Amelia Earhart after her crash because she could set no more aviation records for the barbaric capitalists. Comrade Stalin, she vows, cares deeply about each individual.
Comrade Marina Raskova keeps a promise she made to her cute little daughter Taniushka to visit her school. She thanks Stalin profusely for supervising every step of her rescue and for inviting her and Taniushka to the Kremlin for an intimate dinner with "the dear father" and a few party big-shots. "Why do we live so well here?", she asks the school assembly. "Because Comrade Stalin cares deeply for each individual." This film is so bad, and the selection of quotes so ironic, that it could have been made so only by design. At least that is what I would like to believe. How could an artist like Dziga Vertov, born David Abelevich Kaufman, possibly do otherwise? His skill in slipping satire past Soviet censors is on a par with the creators of Gilda getting their gay subtext past the Hays Office. I've rated it a 4 from 10, based purely on the humor, intentional or otherwise.
Some countries are luckier than others in their choice of idols. We have Oprah. The poor Soviets had Stalin.
