Hobbes in Russia. My favorite movies about girls during social collapse.
Evgenia's weekend movie recs.
As I keep being reminded by American current events of the 90s Russia, I want to write about a few films that center girls in the chaotic and dangerous world of a collapsed society. I feel that Americans on average are not used to real political chaos and violence at all. There have been no violent revolutions or wars on its territory, and civil war is a distant memory. So I think Americans underestimate the possible consequences of the current crisis and the instability and violence that it could be ushering in.
No doubt for America’s deindustrialized lumpen communities of opioid-ridden poor states, this kind of violence might be something mundane. But other Americans, and especially white middle-class ones, are not used to seeing this kind of violence perpetrated against them. They are the people who are usually spared it here and are rather coddled in comparison to the world at large.
So I think these movies are a good window into the world where the social contract is not upheld anymore, and only strength and brutality rules. Russia in the 90s was in such disarray, as I wrote before, that it barely could produce movies. But those that it did make were mostly dramas in the style of Italian neo-realism, which was fitting for a country that was being torn apart politically and economically. The main characters in these films were bandits because main characters in life were bandits, too.
So the two movies I want you to watch are Sisters (2001) and Lilya 4-ever (2002). They have the same actress, Oksana Akinshina, in the leading role — a simple, pretty girl-next-door type.
They are made just a year apart and Oksana seems to play pretty much the same girl. And it almost makes sense that the end of Sisters can be the beginning of Lilya 4-ever. I’m sure that narrative continuity is just an accident, but still I recommend watching them in chronological order for a full cathartic experience.
When the social contract is not upheld anymore and millions of people are plunged into poverty, the world does become rather Hobbesian and only strength and wiliness matter. These are the things that help you survive and prosper.
Sisters takes place in Saint Petersburg — or as it was referred to in the 90s, “Bandit Petersburg” because it was run by gangs while the state basically stopped functioning. In it two half-sisters who share a mom have to go on the run since the little sister is in danger of being kidnapped by her crime boss dad’s enemies. The entire film the two girls, who are only 8 and 13 run around the countryside trying to lay low while the goons are after them. Oksana, who plays the older sister, is tough and good at shooting guns since she wants to become a sniper and go to Chechnya. The film is very touching and very authentic…very of the moment. It was the directorial debut of Sergey Bodrov Jr. who was the leading man in movies Brother and Brother 2, which some say Putin’s image is molded after. Sergey became a cult figure after those films but tragically died soon after making Sisters during an avalanche accident while shooting his second film, So Sisters that has his cameo is particularly special, a promise of a really unique cinematic voice that never got to fully come into bloom.
Lily 4-ever is made by Swedish writer and filmmaker Lukas Moodysson. Many poeple report that it is one of the scariest and saddest films they’ve seen that stays with you for days after.
It was inspired by true story of Lithuanian teenage girl Danguolė Rasalaitė who was lured to Sweden by a man and forced into sexual slavery. The fifteen-year-old Danguole was living alone at the time because her mother married an American man and left her behind in Lithuania, which makes her story very much centered in the theme of collapse.
The film is loosely based on this story but it is moved to Estonia and the main girl Lilya is Russian. She is not bad. She is not slutty. She is just a kid who has no guidance or family protection. She is romantic like most girls her age and she trusts the wrong person. And bad things happen to her. And then more bad things happen to her. And then she trusts another wrong person and it’s hard to imagine but even more bad things happen to her until she can’t take it anymore. There is something from Au hasard Balthazar there and that’s why it’s so hard to watch — the innocent is being martyred before our eyes and we can do nothing. And it’s way more horrible than any horror movies with blood and guts filling the screen.
—Evgenia
Слово пацана! There's a copy w/very good English subtitles done by a kind person on Telegram
I love Lilya 4-ever even though it is a tough watch. Haven’t seen Sisters, but will track it down.
Have you seen Ayka by Sergey Dvortsevoy. It is attributed to Kazakhstan but the filmmaker was educated in Moscow. It won best actress at Cannes in 2018.