What the Heck is Wrong with Russia Is It Really That Bad?

originally posted by: Dalamax
Kudos on the remarkably well structured drunken thread

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Thanks, it was rough. I was one beer away from not being able to, had to one-eye it not long after I finished writing.

@ Monsier le SwampBucque, sorry you found used cars.

here are some interesting videos, for those still trying to understand Russia.

Note: one must distinguish the source times in order to make sense of these.
1917-1991: Soviet Union, Communists
-1953: Stalin's USSR, the worst bits happened during this period.
after 1953: the Krushchev Thaw, in which the excesses of the Stalin era were denounced, and things relaxed.
1991: Fall and disintegration of USSR
1991-1999: the worst period of post-communist Russia. Horrible inflation, no jobs, rampant crime... the Russian experience of democracy... spoiler: they were not impressed. I'll get the numbers wrong, but at least a million Russians drank themselves to death during this period: deaths of despair.
1999: Putin (s)elected. A variety of normalcy reestablished, at least so far as starting to get the economy back on track.
2014: color-revolution ejects democratically elected president of the most corrupt country in Europe, Vicky "# the EU" Nuland hand picks the govt. of the region formerly known as the Pontic Steppe (because we're here for the democracy). "Little Green Men" gift Crimea to Russia, referendum confirms.
2014-2022: The Pontic Steppe has a civil-war, the Kiev regime calling for the ethnic cleansing of the Donbass. 14,000 ethnic Russians killed.
2022: Russia finally rolled west.

I must admit I wasn't paying attention through all of this recent history, largely because it is only of interest to the folks on the ground there, and certain other western regimes that have been laundering huge sums of their tax-payers' dollars through the regime in Kiev.

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"Happy People" this film came out almost 10 years ago. Tells the story of average folks living in Siberia. 4 parts: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.





"Return to the Taiga" (Вернуться в Тайгу). This is roughly now. Takes place in NW Siberia. The family shown are I think ethnic Nenets (?), Historically these were reindeer herders. The Soviets collectivized their reindeer and forced them to move into settlements. The people did not fare well, there are only a few thousand left. In this film, we see a family that in modern Russia bought some reindeer, moved out into the Siberian Taiga, and are attempting to live in a slightly more traditional way. Analogous to those Americans who move to the Alaskan Bush... they have gas-powered generator, television, snow-mobile, tractor, chainsaw, and about 20 reindeer. Video follows them through a year of their mostly "off-the-grid" life.


"Expedition: Novosibirsk-Magadan 2014". This video is insane. A crew attempts to drive across Siberia from Novosibirsk (west-central Siberia) to Magadan (NE corner on the Sea of Okhotsk). The TransSiberian RR runs along the borders with Kazakhstan, Mongolia, & China: the only real land-connection between Moscow and Vladivostok was within spitting distance of what are now international borders, and therefore precariously situated were someone to invade Siberia from the south. Back in the 80's, the Soviets built a parallel RailRoad line several hundred miles to the north: the BAM (Baikal-Amur something) line. It is mostly used for shipping mineral resources. It took several decades to complete the construction of this line. Temporary back-woods roads with a LOT of bridges were temporarily constructed to build this railroad. These roads have had roughly zero maintenance since the RR was completed. A crew in 3 Jeep Grand Cherokees tries to drive a couple thousand miles along these roads to reach the Pacific Ocean.


"Brat" (Brother). (1997) This film is very famous in Russia. It is said to be the best film depiction of what life was like during the horrors of the Russian 90's. It was also the first film post-soviet film to be made without govt. sponsorship. The Producer/Director scraped up money, and then tried to recoup their investment through box-office sales (the Western model). A lot of soviet films are kind of "artsy", because the directors were really making films for each other - there was no motivation to appeal to the audience, and no feedback in terms of ticket sales. Anyway, this film tells the story of a young man back from the war in Chechnya. He claims he was "just a clerk", but he seems to have picked up some "special skills". He goes home from the Army to his mom, but she cares only about her oldest son (the Brother of the title) who has disappeared into the St. Petersburg criminal underworld. She tells the younger son to go find the older.
Warning: the main character says exactly 1 line in which he expressed anti-semitic preferences. I don't know why he says this, it is inconsequential to the movie, and the Director was shunned by the Russian film world. I regret that line is there, but just skip over that bit. The movie is very famous regardless, and should be watched by anyone trying to understand modern Russia.
Note: the version of this film with decent English subtitles is only available on YouTube in a playlist format, roughly 8 pieces each roughly 10+ minutes long. I don't know how to post playlists on ATS. Here is the 1st piece from the playlist. The title of this piece includes the name of the playlist, so you might have to search this bit to get the rest.



"Kin Dza Dza" (1986). A dystopian Sci-Fi film... absolutely bizarre, but very famous. Kind of like a Soviet version of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe" meets "Mad Max" (without the car-chase scenes). It's a very very weird late-soviet social commentary.


"White Hot Sun of the Desert" (1969). This film is an example of what is called an EASTERN. They are the Soviet answer to WESTERNS. Western: hero rides around the desert fighting desperados or Apaches. Eastern: hero walks/rides around the Karakum desert near the shores of the Caspian or Aral seas, fighting off central-asian turkic "bad-guys". This film was made in 1969, but the events are supposed to be in the mid-early 1920's. Our hero has finished his stint fighting for the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil war, and is heading home to his beloved wife. A series of events and his "special skills" seem always to prevent him from actually getting home to his wife.


"Decision: Liquidation" (2018). Tells the (based on true events) story of special operatives working during the Chechen war. Counter-terrorism.


"Vladivostok" (2021). Russian have a very fatalistic streak. As their history has demonstrated time and time again, "Life Sucks, then you die." Watch this film for a glimpse of this, if interested in understanding Russian psyche.


"The Island" (Остров, 2006) This film is a fictional drama. It tells the story of a man who disappointed himself during WWII, then washed ashore on a Monastic island. He spends decades regretting choices he made in the past. A tale of suffering and redemption. I found the cinematography of this film to be particularly beautiful. Takes place on the shores of the northern White Sea.

ellenbrown.com...

a reply to: tnxoxodka

Quite an interesting list of Russian-produced movies, a few have sparked my interest, actually most of them.

I may be typical of an American considering my idea of a Russian movie is "From Russia with Love", the 1963 spy film and the second in the James Bond series (also Sean Connery's second role as 007 James Bond). The other influence on my perception of Russians was Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale from the cartoon TV series "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" and to a lesser degree, "Spy Vs Spy" from Mad Magazine. It's not like Russian history or culture was taught in public school when I went there, so there's that.

Definitely going to have a look at two of those videos you posted, thanks, comrade. You wouldn't happen to have a recipe for making Vodka at home, would you?

ETA: Not that it had much of an influence on my image of Russians was the Charles Bronson movie, "Telefon".

Telefon is a 1977 spy film directed by Don Siegel and starring Charles Bronson, Lee Remick and Donald Pleasence.
. . . Plot After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union planted a number of long-term, deep-cover sleeper agents all over the United States, spies so thoroughly brainwashed that even they did not know they were agents. They can be activated only by a special code phrase – a line from the Robert Frost poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" – followed by the agent's real first name. Their mission was to sabotage crucial parts of the civil and military infrastructure in the event of war.

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: crayzeed

I think you are totally disgusting drinking and typing. You need help. Specifically me, so next time you must invite me to oversee your habit to test whether your beer is poisonous or not.

It was a six-pack of Bell's "Hazy Hearted IPA" 7.5% ABV (in cans). Bell's Brewery is in Comstock Michigan and I have been drinking their Two-Hearted IPA in long-neck bottles that I prefer to use when bottling my own brew. It was pretty tasty and good on hops, but I refrained from doing my official review until I can get it in bottles.

The smoke was merely the leaf from my nearly budding plants. I'm old school and prefer strains less than 15% and so plan on blending the leaf with the bud after I harvest. Having nothing else, it did OK and kept my corn cob pipe full through the duration of my private beer fest.

a reply to: hjesterium
The past tells the future.

a reply to: RonnieJersey

"Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Winston Churchill

a reply to: dollukka

originally posted by: billxam
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Everything goes great at the party until they drag out their Amway products.

If you bought those Amway products, China wouldn't be a superpower right now.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

re: "russian produced movies"
watching american movies (about Russia or otherwise) you will learn about americans and their worldviews.
watching russian movies, you will learn about russians and their worldviews.

"you can best learn about a people/culture, by reading/seeing/hearing the stories that they tell themselves about themselves."

"Rocky and Bullwinkle" was possibly my first exposure to the very concept that "Russians" existed in the world. Fun entertainment and satire. But scarcely a substitute for educating oneself.

As an american, I took russian-language classes back when the Soviet Union still existed, yet I never watched a russian movie until "Happy People" (2014) came out. After 1991, the demand for russian-language skills fell through the floor, so I let it lapse. I never watched any other russian movies until this last year, when I again find myself playing catch-up to understand what's going on in the world. Being used to Hollywood-tripe, russian movies take some effort to understand - my education continues. In particular, russian movies have a very different pace and rhythm... much slower & longer. Their "Comedies" share very little with what americans would consider a comedy... they tend to be situational-comedy or comedy-of-errors, but there is no string of jokes and no laugh-track. But russians are almost always telling jokes (with a straight face) -- the jokes are there, but you need to catch subtle flaws in logic or preposterous results to get them. Even the russian government press releases very often contain comedy gold for the perceptive, but you have to study russia and it's culture to see them flying past.

here follow some more movie suggestions.

"I Walk Around Moscow" (1963)
This one is interesting mostly just to see all the footage of Moscow back in 1963. Rocky & Bullwinkle told me it was always overcast and raining in Pottsylvania. The story-line here is disposable. The footage is an invaluable historical record.


"Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" (1979)
This is a decent love-story drama. I include it in the list for what it says about men's vs women's roles in society in soviet russia (which informs modern russia). This is the story of a single-mom who raises her child alone in Moscow. The soviets claimed that women had full equality, but how did society handle it if she was making MORE money than the man she starts seeing? You might have heard a lot about modern russia pushing back against the global LGBTQ+ agenda. That tells you what they DON'T support, but russia had women soldiers, snipers, airplane pilots, so what DO they support? This movie provides some insight into their 20th century expectations of gender roles.


"The Cold Summer of Fifty Three" (1987)
This movie takes place in a tiny siberian village in 1953. There we meet the local villagers, and their one policeman... and also 2 men who have been exiled to siberia (wrongly accused, as it turns out). Some people were sent to mining camps, but here we get a glimpse of 2 men who are just told "you can't leave Siberia (back to European Russia) for 10(?) years". Individuals were responsible for getting their own jobs (I was always told the soviets issued you a job, whether or not you wanted it), so the terms of their exile is of interest. The one sits around doing nothing all day -- again, news to me that you could do that there.
1953 was the year Stalin died. As part of Krushchev's renunciation of Stalinism: they knew that millions of people had been wrongly imprisoned or sent to camps, but how to sort out that mess? Apparently they issued a general amnesty and let EVERYBODY out of prison. Russia, like every other country, has some actual BAD PEOPLE who SHOULD be in jail. Tiny Siberian village meets gang of just-released BAD PEOPLE.


"Gentlemen of Fortune" (1971)
Comedy. Fun movie. Kindergarten teacher just happens to look just like the (recently escaped from prison) leader of a gang of criminals. The police get the Kindergarten teacher to go undercover in prison, to get the other members of the criminal gang to lead the police to the escaped gang-leader. (Yes, the main character is the one "alien" from the film "Kin Dza Dza" ... he was a very famous actor.)


"Love & Doves" (1984)
Rom-Com. The story here is funny & cute. But while watching it, pay attention to learn about (soviet) russian attitudes towards:
how a 2-income family handles money, drinking & alcoholism, injuries, health-care, recuperative vacationing, affairs, divorce, the role of social-class differences in the Classless Society of the Workers Utopia ™. In particular, the "Upper-class" lady expresses at one point a stream of views worthy of Weekly-World-News headlines... but that's part of the comedy.


"Mimino" (1977)
This is a russian movie, in which the 2 main characters are not russian: 1 Georgian and 1 Armenian. These 2 countries were both constituent republics of the USSR, and are now independent countries. Things to learn about in this movie: rural postal delivery service to extremely mountainous Georgia; borrowing cars AND drivers-licenses; use of russian language as lingua-franca in USSR (movie audio starts in Georgian, then switches to Russian, with some italian, german, and english); how pilots and truck-drivers could travel the breadth and length of a "repressive regime" like the USSR; the role of the black-market even so far as hotel-room reservations and light-fixtures; more film-footage in and about moscow in the mid-late 70's; court system & legal representation; international flights (1 guy walks all over Berlin without defecting).


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documentaries:

"Abandoned Russian Village where my father was born" (2019)
The soviets did not allow folks to up and move wherever they wanted to. Modern russia: move wherever you want. Moscow is now the 2nd most populous city in Europe (after Istanbul, Turkey). The russian countryside is depopulating. Entire villages are vanishing. This video walks to and through what used to be an agricultural community. Worth the watch, as a single typical example.


"Who lives well in Russia? Buryatia, Siberia" (2023)
Here is a valley and several villages that are NOT depopulating -- it's a pretty place, and these folks may survive. Buryats are a sub-ethnicity of Mongols. Buryatia is an autonomous republic on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, just north of Mongolia proper. The people in this video are ethnic russians and ethnic buryats. The guy who made this video (Ivan Usanov) makes a lot of documentary films worth watching - most are nature heavy, and beautiful to watch.


"Как должен жить человек: Староверы сибири" ("How should a person live: Old-Believers (in) Siberia")
can't find a date on this film. film quality appears to be ~80's. I haven't watched the whole thing, but the lead in is fascinating: in the 1970's geologists were doing aerial surveys in Siberia (for mineral exploration), when they spotted potato fields in an "uninhabited" area. Found a community of Old-Believers who had missed out on the preceding 50 years of Stalinist Hell on Earth. Siberia is BIG. Who else might be hiding?

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Its just a complete load of BS about anything not going Russia's way. As far as I'm concerned, Putin is working along with Zellensky and the US and they've got a deal going to stage this sham war. Its one big money grab.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I've always felt like the US and Russia were like two people who hate eachother but secretly want to have 7 minutes in a closet together. Culture-wise people can really get along and lots of opportunity for exchange instead of China; our flags even have the same colors lol

WAY too complicated to happen anytime soon but there's definitely alot of potential and things to learn from eachother. I love America but I also love my babushka. And vodka and pelmeni 🤤

originally posted by: PachanoiPisces
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

. . . I love America but I also love my babushka. And vodka and pelmeni 🤤

That old woman wearing a babushka in the last video posted by tnxoxodka (two above your last post), looks like my great-grandmother who came off the boat from Czechoslovakia, put some glasses on her and they would be twins. I don't know how much that side of the family likes vodka, but they are heavy drinkers. I did get a taste for some of the foods my grand-mother and great-grandmother made but the larger percentage of the Prussians gives me a taste for beer and enhanced my desire for cabbage dishes like sauerkraut.

originally posted by: Dutchowl
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Its just a complete load of BS about anything not going Russia's way. As far as I'm concerned, Putin is working along with Zellensky and the US and they've got a deal going to stage this sham war. Its one big money grab.

Also paving the way toward a new NWO (think China's social credit score).