The national cinema industry had not enough time to develop in the Russian Empire, since only nine years passed from the premiere of Stenka Razin to the October Revolution. During this time the cinema did not go beyond a creation of a few movie companies, a leading expert of Vestnik Kavkaza, Andrey Petrov told during a live broadcast of the National Question program on Vesti FM.
The National Question is a weekly program of Vesti.FM, during which various aspects of the national relations, primarily in Russia, are discussed. Today's broadcast was dedicated to the issue of the national cinema.
The October Revolution changed the situation radically: as soon as the movie production was nationalized, it started promoting communism in all the Soviet republics, the expert said. ”The very first national films were shot for this purpose, which was, in fact, international: the same story was told about each nation - the oppression of ordinary people by privileged classes, and their confrontation," Andrey Petrov explained.
A typical example of the early Soviet national movie is Suram Fortress, shot by Ivan Perestiani in 1922. Georgian actors played in the movie, the shooting process took place in the cities and mountains of Georgia, and the wedding episode depicted Georgian culture’s peculiarities, including lezginka, uzundara and chidaoba. The plot is based on a story by Daniel Chonkadze, which was popular among Georgians in the19th century, the expert recalled.
"At the same time, the main thing in the film is the story of the struggle of serfs against their masters, and the very legend of Suram fortress, where a son of the protagonist Durmishkhan was walled on advice of the sorceress Vardua, is just a canvas for the episodes depicting children being sold as cattle, peasants tortured for fun of the publics, and a murder of the inhuman landlord. The film constantly stresses that in the time of nobility and priests life was bad, propaganda against the church is very obvious: before every atrocity, the characters are crossing themselves, priests destroy families, and the boy is walled to the fortress, being crucified, in a cross-shape coffin with icons, " the analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza said.
He noted that the synthesis of recognizable, native national component and propaganda in early films was due to the tasks of the primary Sovietization of the republics: it was necessary to convince people that only the Soviet power could guarantee them a prosperous future.
At the same time, Andrey Petrov noted that by the end of the silent movie era, the cinema internationalism had become more emphasized. This is clearly seen in the first Azerbaijani film Sevil by Amo Bek-Nazarov, which was released in 1929. Here Soviet propaganda processes the recent history, presenting the fall of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic as the victory of the working class and peasants over the bourgeois-depressing human capitalist system. The film is based on a play by Jafar Jabbarli about a love triangle between a member of the Musavat party, Balash Nouri, Zadeh, his wife Sevil and mistress Edili. Three female characters of the film embody three periods of Azerbaijan's life: modest and hardworking Sevil is a traditional society, loose and lazy Edil is the highest society of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic, and Balash's sister is a brave communist of the Soviet Azerbaijan, the leading expert said.
A similar motive was typical for silent films of all the Soviet peoples - propaganda against the past, aimed at maintaining faith in the Soviet present, Andrey Petrov concluded during a live broadcast of the National Question program on Vesti.FM.
