Soviet science fiction. Through thorns - to the viewer

Soviet science fiction is an unprecedented phenomenon in the world cinema. In the gold fund of the film industry, it is adequately represented by "Stalker" and "Solaris".

Post-Revolutionary Film Fiction in the RSFSR

It's no secret that the cinema in the USSR was mostly propagandistic in nature. Soviet fiction was aimed at popularizing the idea of a world revolution. Bright examples of ideological pictures are:

• "Iron Heel" (1919) - a screen version of the novel by D. London. In the film, archaeologists of the future examine documents in which the death of capitalism is described.
• "The Ghost is wandering around Europe" (1923) -adaptized "anti-capitalist" screen adaptation of the novel "The Mask of Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe.

Fantasies about the future war

Soviet science fiction of the 1920s is characterized by an aggressive orientation, fantasy films appear on the theme of the military confrontation between the capitalist world and the young Soviet Republic:

1. "Aero NT-54". According to the storyline, the protagonist, an outstanding engineer, invented the most powerful engine for an airplane, and immediately the bourgeois spies hunted him.
2. "Communist" ("Russian Gas"). The film tells about the Soviet discovery of some kind of paralyzing gas that would help win the war against capitalism.
3. "Death ray". A cardinal film for that time, it tells that in the USSR ray weapons are invented and transmitted to foreign proletarians who, using the invention, overthrow the power of tyrants-capitalists.
4. "Napoleon-gas." In this tape, the plot idea was inverted, that is, the vile bourgeois created a deadly gas and tried to overthrow Leningrad with it.
5. "Miss Mend." Deprived of its connection with the literary original, the screen version of the Soviet epic fantasy adventure novel Marietta Shaginyan tells only about another failed attempt of capitalism to destroy the USSR.

"Look for Aelita!"

Soviet fiction in 1924 was replenished with an outstanding masterpiece, recognized by the world community, the classics of cinema. The film "Aelita" by Yakov Protazanov is based on the story of the same name by AN Tolstoy. The picture pays more attention to showing the life of the post-revolutionary RSFSR. And the so-called "Martian" part of the movie is staged in the spirit of expressionism. The main character - the daughter of the ruler of Mars Aelita - decides to overthrow the dictatorship of his father Tuskub. At this time, two earthlings fly to Mars - the engineer Los and the military-Red Army man Gusev. They actively support the uprising, which after several failures is crowned with success. But, to the quick disappointment of the representatives of mankind, becoming the ruler of the planet, Aelita establishes the same tyranny.

Film reviews and screen versions of literature

In connection with the tightening of party demands for culture, postwar Soviet fiction deepens into folklore, movie reviews and screen versions of the works of the classics of Soviet, Russian and world literature are on lease:

• Folklore kinoskazki - "Morozko", "Varvara-beauty, a long braid";
• Literary - "The Tale of Lost Time", "The Kingdom of Curved Mirrors", "
• Adaptation of the literary classics - "Deer King", "Man from Nowhere", "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", "Wake Mukhina".

Soviet fiction was considered to be an "ideologically ambiguous" direction, so it was extremely rarely awarded state financial support.

Political "thaw"

In comparison with the 1920s and 1930s, the 1960s became a period of political "thaw", and filmmakers gained more freedom. Hopes for the renewal of Soviet society were embodied in the stage of "romantic" screen versions of the literary sources of the twenties and thirties. So there was the best Soviet science fiction:

1. "Scarlet Sails" (1961).
2. "The Amphibian Man" (1961).
3. "Hyperboloid engineer Garin."
4. Three Fat Men (1966).
5. "Running on the waves" (1967).
6. "Cain XVIII" (1963).
7. "Ordinary Miracle" (1964).

In space for a dream

Soviet fiction about space, along with Aelita, the Planet of Storms, the Andromeda Nebula and the Alien, is represented by several films that were unanimously named important breakthroughs in Soviet cinema. Such films are:

1. "Guest from the future."
2. "The alien ship."
3. "Kin-Dza-Dza!".
4. "The Third Planet."
5. "Charming aliens".
6. "Do not fly away, Earthman!".
7. "The Dungeon of the Witches."

New directions

New trends in film fantasy of the Soviet era are represented by the horror film "Viy" (1967), the romantic comedy "His name was Robert", the adventure drama "Stalker" (1979) and the adapted insurgent "The Curse of the Snake Valley". The Soviet film industry after the 70's often resorted to the genre of fiction. The directors of the USSR found in it the most successful expression of their feelings and thoughts.