Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, written and directed by Vladimir Menshov

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, written and directed by Vladimir Menshov

Moscow does not believe in tears…wow…what a true statement…indeed, Moscow believes in…Vladimir Putin.

And that means this and other Russian cities are not emotional, tender, soft, weak and vulnerable…

Or are they?

Since they believe in a tyrant and his fake promises and lies…like we never had soldiers in the Ukraine…

This film has won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture and one wonders why.

On the other hand, when it was presented for a new viewing on local television the other night, it was included in the segment dedicated to masterpieces and fundamental works of art, which this fare is not.

Of course, there are many good parts and even something we used to call “lizards” which meant small truths inserted in art.

Since the censorship would not allow criticism of the supreme leader, politburo or other such untouchables, creators would struggle to insert something remotely dissident, which in turn caused uproar in audiences…

One character said he is hungry…that would cause a tremor, a small earthquake in the theater room, because we were all hungry, due to those soviets that are so great in this fucking movie…this is the unconscious crying out for revenge and an attempt at a joke, for the poor workers had little to do with the destruction of my country and other lands…of course, filmmakers did their share.

One way to look at Moscow does not believe…is to find the small lizards and be in awe that they are in there.

This cinephil thinks that is exactly what he did, decades ago, when he first saw and appreciated this movie.

Only after so many years, the feeble attempt to speak about the small wages that the heroine has, or the snobbishness of some characters pales in comparison with the celebration of workers, one of whom becomes the general manager, because Soviet Union is the land of real opportunity…wasn’t it?

The likes of Jeremy Corbin, Melenchon, Even the too much-celebrated Bernie Sanders would probably agree.

However, for those who lived in this Workers Paradise this is “de la merde, kisama” and the film brings out these repressed emotions.

There are of course many good scenes and worthwhile themes that can even be funny, like the insistence of some characters that television would replace everything: going to the movies, theater, books…all would disappear in twenty years…

Then, twenty years later, one of these personages repeats the prophecy, which is an oxymoron since this period had passed and all those mentioned were still around, albeit culture does suffer a lot…

So maybe serious, paramount forms of art might become obsolete with time, due to the permanent obsession with smart phones…who knows?

Lyudmila is a determined woman, willing to lie in order to ascend in society and here we may have a truth about communist society, which escaped the censors.

In reality, to get to the top one may need to marry into a family who has it all and pretend in the process, even if the career of her honest friend, Katia, is a fulminant rise from the position of worker to CEO…

Ultimately, it all depends on how one chooses to interpret what is going on in the film, but for this movie addict anything that depicts Soviets, communism with favorable images is disgusting and there is so much that praises this criminal system here.

The liars lose, which was not the case, it was the ultimate system within which the false prophets reached the very top.

Lyudmila, with her effort to pretend she is a psychiatrist and therefore entice an important man, seduce him so that they have a baby and then become a housewife and in practice trap him, loses this game.

In opposition, honest, hardworking, good communist, inventive, dedicated Katia reaches the top.

Because communism is all about that, isn’t it?

“All animals are equal! …or was it the other way round?

Some animals are more equal than others!

Besides, to make some parts of this film ever more disagreeable and outright revolting, Katia accepts the position of woman slave, dominated by the ultimate alpha male who is the master in his house.

Women have second place and absurdly, Katia is so crazy about this sadist, perhaps because she is a masochistic hero, a reason why she triumphs in the communist society that she does so much to advance…