Great Patriotic War Narratives in the Russian Cinema

Collective Self, Internal Others, and Dislocations of Identity

Author(s): Andrey Makarychev
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 89
Pages: 2-5
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen; Institute of History, University of Basel
Publication Year: 2010

This article examines how recent Russian films about World War II play with traditional Soviet narratives of the war. Rather than simply repeating themes of the victorious Soviet Union and the defeated aggressor, the films examine topics with much greater nuance, including an Orthodox priest who is forced to collaborate with the Nazis, young Russian criminals coerced into fighting, and people who fall in love with someone from the other side. Ultimately, these films shed light on a complex and evolving post-Soviet Russian identity.

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