Marxians

One of Filmbrain's really smart friends (the pancratic, polyloquent Dr. D) suggested that a silent, Soviet, Marxist science-fiction film from 1924 was something Filmbrain might enjoy. He was right. Yakov Protazanov's Aelita: The Queen of Mars is truly a remarkable curiosity. The first big budget film from Soviet Russia, it tells a rather simple story of an engineer (Los) who dreams of Aelita, the Queen of Mars. Unable to bear life without her, he builds a spaceship to take him to Mars, and into the arms of his beloved. Fortunately for him, Queen Aelita has coincidentally been using her new telescope to check him out on earth. Upon arrival, he naturally gets caught up in a Martian proletarian uprising, started by (of all people) the Queen herself. (Los' comic-relief sidekick doesn't trust the idea of a Queen leading a revolution, but hey, this is Mars.) The revolution is a success and the M-USSR is born. The film is visually impressive, what with the constructivist Mars set and imaginative costumes. The Martian soldiers resemble the blockheads from Gumby, and Aelita's outfit wouldn't be out of place on a Friday night at Soho House. The film wouldn't suffer with a bit of editing -- at 111 minutes, it leaves too much time for silly sub-plots concerning missing sugar, a bumbling detective and an evil wife. The piano score recorded for the DVD release is a bit stilted, so Filmbrain chose to replace it with John Zorn's Naked City and Frank Zappa's Sleep Dirt. (Which both ROCK!) Though the film was intended as piece of propaganda, Protazanov was attacked for creating a work of "Western-style escapism, commercialism and ideological compromise." (Sometimes there's no pleasing these socialist critics!) Still, any film that depicts how love and a workers' revolution can save the day is all right by Filmbrain. A must see for sci-fi Marxists.

Comments

[Marleigh]

Naked City rules.

You should also give Mr. Bungle's California a go. How could you go wrong with Mike Patton?

[FIlmbrain]

Hell yeah -- Mr. Bungle are very Zappa-esque. California is great, but I've always had a soft spot for Disco Volante. Have to pull those out -- haven't heard them for like two years.

[Thomas]

Have seen this one in a cinema here in Berlin a year ago, unfortunately without any music, but nevertheless was astonished. And I think the socialist-marxist-whatsoever politics in the end were somehow really fun in a campy kinda way. :-D (can't say that about Riefenstahl)