In a flea market or thrift store, when we were last out and about, I bought a DVD containing two lesser-known films starring the late and much lamented Robin Williams : Jakob the Liar, and Moscow on the Hudson. Neither title was familiar to us. We eventually got around to watching them last week, one after t'other. It's interesting, and probably the reason they are bundled onto one DVD disc, that Russia has a "supporting part" in each movie.
It's a relief to think about Russia in different lights; all the current, and seemingly endless, Russiagate stuff flying around media and internet got old for me many weeks ago.
In these two movies, Russia plays different characters - in the first Russia wears the white hat and is a factor for good - as was Russia for us in the UK during World War 2. We ought never to forget that if not for their brave armies opposing Hitler's regime, keeping him busy in eastern Europe, Britain might not have survived uninvaded.
In the second movie Russia itself isn't the bad guy in the black hat, it's the KGB and the Soviet regime then in power. Russia itself never is the bad guy - or at least never should be. Ordinary Russians are, I feel certain, just like us. They want peaceful lives, families and friends and to live without undue fear from day to day.
In Jakob the Liar, a 1999 movie set in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War 2, Jakob (Robin Williams) finds a way to combat the overwhelming depression pervading the ghetto, and causing regular suicides among its inhabitants. He lies. He claims that he hears regular news broadcasts claiming that Allied advances, in particular Russian troops, are very close, so relief is near. His plan does lift hearts and refresh optimism - but...and there's always a but... (no more detail!)
Slow, interesting, well played, but ultimately leaving one feeling a tad depressed.
In Moscow on the Hudson, a 1984 film, a younger-looking Robin Williams plays Vladimir Ivanoff, a saxophonist from a Soviet Circus touring in the USA with his troupe. He decides to defect while in New York, and finds refuge with the family of a black security guard he met in a luxury department store. In the same store he also met a lovely young Italian woman working in the makeup department. He is introduced to a shrewd Cuban immigration lawyer to help with his asylum application. So, from these brief details it's already clear that this movie had a diverse cast, and a positive feel for immigrants of all stripes! It's really a multi-cultural romantic comedy with hints of some earnest flag-waving efforts, especially in the later scenes.
Enjoyable movie in spite of the flag-waving potential.
It's Music Monday - and the flavour of the day is...Russia! Enter my favourite Russian composer, Aleksandr Borodin.
Liatoshinsky Ensemble , Kiev, plays Borodin's nocturne during ICF (International Conductors' Festival) under the conducting of Christophe Rody (Switzerland). This piece, and other pieces of Borodin's music was used in the 1955 movie "Kismet". With lyrics added this piece became "And This is My Beloved".
There's a solar eclipse coming up on 11 September. Predictions for events following eclipses occasionally prove to be partially, or even wholly accurate, but sometimes they don't. If ever I feel depressed after reading eclipse predictions I dilute that feeling by remembering that eclipses are a regular part of life on Earth. It's a bit like the slight feeling of risk involved in flying (by plane, not on a broomstick!). If ever I feel nervous I think of the number of flights in a day, all over the world, of the staff on board all those planes - the stewardesses or whatever they are called these days. They fly many times a week, month in, month out, without problem. Why would anyone feel nervous about one single flight - or one single eclipse ?
Eclipses of the Sun are dramatic events, I can't argue with that. They feature in several novels and films - there's a list of some of them at Wikipedia HERE. The only one from that list I can recall is "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", in which Bing Crosby (playing a time traveller to the past) convinced adversaries of his power by using knowledge that a solar eclipse was due to take place.
I discovered another story involving an eclipse of the Sun quite accidentally this week. I was searching for information about Borodin's opera "Prince Igor", from which the music of the stage show and film "Kismet" was borrowed. I can't seem to get this music out of my mind these days. "Kismet" (see my husband's blog) was set in Baghdad - in the time when it was a beautiful city - it's very sad to think about that now. "Prince Igor", however, was set in Russia.
The synopsis of "Prince Igor" goes something like this: The Prince is mobilizing his army against the Polovtsians (a nomadic people) who have been attacking and raiding the Russians' territory and carrying away their people into slavery. There is an eclipse of the Sun and the sky grows dark.
The people see this as a bad omen and plead with Prince Igor to abandon his mission. Igor sees it as an omen - but whether good or bad is to be seen. His wife, Yaroslavna, begs him to stay home but he is not persuaded. He must defend his and Russia's honor. Things go badly, Igor's brother plans to depose him in his absence, Igor and his son are taken captive by the Polovtsians. In the end though, Igor escapes and returns to his wife and to defend his city. There's a sub-plot involving his son's love affair with the daughter of the Polovtsian leader.
So....there was bad news, and there was good news, after that eclipse.
I understand that Igor's story is based on historical events See HERE -
"There was apparently opposition to this campaign among members of Igor's retinue. On May 1, 1185, there was an eclipse of the sun, which the Nikonovskaya Chronicle describes: "A Portent. That same year, in the month of May, on the fist day, there was a portent in the sun; it was very dark, and this was for more than an hour, so that the stars could be seen, and to men's eyes it was green, and the sun became as the [crescent] moon, and from its horns flaming fire was emitted; and it was a portent terrible to see and full of horror." Although the Russians interpreted this phenomenon as an evil omen, Igor insisted that the campaign continue, saying, "No one knows the mysteries of God. God is the maker of this sign and of the whole world. And whether that which God does to us is for good or for ill, this too we shall see." With regard to the coming eclipse - as Prince Igor said..... "this too we shall see".
