Russian War Films: On the Cinema Front, 1914-2005 by Denise J. Youngblood (review)

Abstract

reviews 547 In theseventies, whenWestern critics including thepresent writer started visiting Hungaryand reviewing itsnew music- withthefinancial help,I regret to say,ofthestateapparatusthatwas promoting it- therewas little sign of eithercomposer.Ligeti was in Vienna, apparently Westernized; Kurtágwas in Budapest,but mysteriously silent,and unsupported by the official publisher, EditioMusicaBudapest, presumably becauseundercontract to Universalin Vienna. One observeda surfaceof new music,muchof it relentlessly minor,by figures such as Durkó, Bozay (bothnow dead) and Balassa,longsincefadedback intoobscurity. The New Music Studioaped and perpetuated theDadaesque imbecilities of Cage and beyond,withthe tacitconnivance oftheestablishment itpretended to undermine. In BecklesWillson'shandsthiswholescenecomesto lifeand takesshape. Much ofheranecdotaldetailis new,whilevaluablysupplementing Danielle Fosler-Lussier's recent MusicDivided: Bartók's Legacy inColdWarCulture (Berkeley ,Los Angeles,CA, and London,2007- too late,sadly,forthepresent volume).As forthemusicaldiscussions and evaluations, these,too,are often stimulating and invariably informative. Iftheydon'tintheendanswerall the questionsthe authorasks of them,theywill greatlyhelp othersin the attempt. School ofMusic StephenWalsh Cardiff University Youngblood, DeniseJ.Russian WarFilms: Onthe Cinema Front, ^14-2005. University PressofKansas,Lawrence,KS, 2007.xvi+ 319pp. Illustrations. Filmography. Notes.Bibliography. Index.£23.50. In hernew book,Denise Youngbloodanalysesmorethan160 Russianand Sovietwarfilms inordertoillustrate theevolution ofthegenreoverthecourse oflateimperial, Sovietandpost-Soviet periodsofRussianhistory. The book's primary focusisRussianidentity as itisimagedinthefilms abouttheRussian CivilWar,theGreatPatriotic War and theAfghanand ChechenWars.In herintroduction, Youngbloodexplains toherreaders whyshechose'Russian' inthetitle ofherbookinsteadof'Soviet':inheropinion,'Sovietcinemawas "GreatRussian"in itsorientation' (p. 2). Youngbloodtakesthereaderthrough ninety yearsof Russianwar films chronologically, drawing on herextensive knowledge ofthefilms' narratives. She claimsthatresearching filmgenresis possibleeitherthroughformal analysis or content analysis, and choosesthelatter as a methodology forher project.Drawingon HaydenWhite'snotionof'historiophoty' ('therepresentationof history and thought about it in visualimages'),she arguesthat, contrary to popularbelief, Russianwar films can and do serve,although of coursenotin a literal sense,as viablehistorical records(p. 3). Thus,through a thorough thematic analysis ofthesefilms, Youngbloodendeavours toachieve threegoals: to describethe evolutionof the Russianwar film;to analyse the war filmthroughthe prismof White'snotionof 'historiophoty'; and 548 seer, 87, 3, July 2009 'to interrogate theart/entertainment paradigmin Russiancinematic history' (P-2). The authorfollows thefamiliar sequenceofRusso-Soviet politicalhistory periodization:The Revolutionary Era', 'Socialist Realism', 'The Great Patriotic War','FromWar totheThaw', 'The Thaw', 'The Stagnation', 'To Glasnostand Beyond',and 'After theFall'. Each chapteropenswitha historiophoty claim,giving a theoretical framing to thesubsequent description of thefilms ofeach period.Youngbloodthenexplains whycertain warsbecame ideologically important fora certain periodofpolitical history, examines their place in articulating Russianand Sovietcommunalidentities, and considers how thesearmedconflicts wererepresented in artand commercial cinema. After reading thebook,a student withno priorknowledge ofRussianculture couldeasilydescribethemajorperiodsofRusso-Soviet politicalhistory and comment ontheideological, thematic andstylistic differences between thewar films from varioushistorical periods. Youngbloodasksimportant questionsabouttheplace ofmotionpictures in Russian collectivememory,myth-making and in articulating imperial and nationalidentities. However,sheleavesfuture scholars to comeup with theanswers to someofthesequestions. For example,Youngbloodopensthe monograph withthe fundamental claimthatwar became a way of lifein theUSSR (p.ix)butinthesereviewers' opinion, shedoesnotfully exploit this essential notioninclarifying whytheaesthetics ofmilitarism and mobilization was so ubiquitous in Sovietvisualculture. Youngblood'sthoroughdescription of Russian war filmsalso provokes theoretical questions abouttherelationship betweentheofficial ideology and genrecinemaatvariousperiodsinRussianpolitical history. Did thewarfilm existas theprincipal propagandafilm genrethroughout Russo-Soviet history? In the1930s,forexample,Sovietcinemaproducedso-called'defencefilms'. Were theya sub-genre of the war film?When Youngbloodexaminesthe cinemaoftheThaw,shedistinguishes entertainment warmelodrama [House I LiveIn,MyDearMan,TheLiving andthe Dead)from suchfilms as TheCranes are Flying or Clear Skies on thegrounds thatthelatter areartfilms and theformer commercial products. Such a division raisesmorequestionsabout therelationship betweenthewarfilm and melodrama, thewarfilm and artcinema, sincethey allexploit family melodrama conventions. Whatisthewarfilm and howitisrelated tosuchgenres as melodrama orcomedy? Finally, whatisthe place ofgenrecinemawithin Sovietculture? Youngblood'shistory ofRussianwarfilms provides readers witha comprehensiveintroduction to thesubjectand raisestheoretical questionsawaiting further researchwithinnew theoretical frameworks. One hopes thewealth ofmaterial hermonograph provides, together withtheavailability on DVD ofmanyofthefilms shedescribes, willmotivate professors to designcourses integrating Russianwarfilms intowiderundergraduate courses onfilm genres, Russianvisualculture, political mythology and collective memory. College ofWilliam & Mary Richard Olson & Alexander Prokhorov Williamsburg, VA ...