Double the Irony, Double the Fun!

I can't decide which is better: that the Union of Journalists building is perpetually 'under renovation', or that the statue of Kirov was erected by the man who ordered his murder.

Indiana Jones

On Tuesday, the new Indiana Jones film was released in Russia on 808 screens, making it the widest Hollywood release ever.

There's been a bit of controversy here over the portrayal of Indy's Soviet-Russian nemeses as incompetent, greedy louts. The Communist Party (surprise, surprise) has even called for a ban, and turned their entire website, http://www.kplo.ru/ , into an anti-Indiana Jones forum. Under a photograph of Indy slugging a Russian agent, the caption reads "Filthy Jones punches Russian soldier-defeater of fascism." Another one reads "Jones sadistically murders Russian agents."

I saw the film yesterday, keen on gaging the Russians reactions as best I could. They seemed to enjoy it; they laughed at all the rights parts (especially at the prairie dogs in the beginning and during the motorcycle chase). My guess is they didn't take the 'portrayal of Russians' business too seriously.

However, there was one scene when it came to a head: The Russians have captured Indy and his sidekick for the umpteenth time and taken them to the jungles of Peru (as in all Indiana Jones movies, the bad guys need his archaeologist skills). The camera pans across the tents to a bonfire where the Russian soldiers are kicking back 'Russian-style' with traditional dances (including the crouch-kick thing) over balalaikas-accordion tunes. The audience burst out laughing.

It's a coincidence that as I'm writing this, through my window I can hear babuskas performing these very tunes on the street.

Read more about the communists, because they're so cute when they're mad:

http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSL2344657520080524

And don't forget to the celebrate the 305th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

Moscow 2: The Big Red

Moscow is more. More space, more people, more variety, more money, more culture, more to do, more to see, more to buy. It's fresher, cleaner, better organized and better connected. Moscow is where the shows are, and the independent outlets. It's where the decisions get made and change starts (I saw my first Russian recycling bin in Moscow).

I'm in the middle of finals right now, so in lieu of a lengthy post I'm going to put up some photos from Moscow. In order: 1) Victory Day poster 2) Ad for upcoming KISS show 3) Recycling sign 'an experiment' it says 4) "New!" Crab-flavored Lays. Yum. 5) SpongeBob SquarePants: guity by association?

Enter Dmitri Anatolyevich

In case you missed it, Russia got a new president today in Dmitri Anatolyevich Medvedev (pron. 'MedvEdyev'), the forty-two-year-old (!) lawyer and Putin protege. Everybody here is wondering how Medvedev and soon-to-be Prime Minister Putin will share power, and what, if any policy changes may be in store.

The cards are heavily stacked in favor of the status quo and Medvedev himself has pledged to charge ahead with 'Plan Putin', as United Russia's platform is called. Even so, there are signs that the new president will be friendlier to civil rights and freedoms than his predecessor, at least that's how I interpreted the part in his inauguration speech when he said, "Human rights and freedoms... are deemed of the highest value for our society." There's also something to be said for his correctly identifying and pledging to fight Russia's biggest problems: corruption, red-tape, poor infrastructure, and illiberal economic policies. I'm not sure any US presidential candidate has been as honest (a pitfall of popular elections, I guess).

Medvedev is easier on the anti-Western rhetoric than Putin, which might translate into less saber rattling and more actual diplomacy (which will be necessary if Russia expects to join the WTO in the near future). Ironically, if relations were to normalize under Medvedev, it might be that years of saber rattling and oil realpolitik have finally convinced the EU and US to take Russia seriously.

The two things that could tank US-Russia relations in the near future are a war with Georgia (very possible) and the election of President John McCain, who's pledged to punish Russia's democratic lapses by ejecting it from the G8. Democracy promotion aside, this strikes me as a truly terrible idea. I'd almost prefer the Clinton/Obama approach: as of February 26th neither of them knew Medvedev's name.

I bookmarked a BBC story on Medvedev's inauguration. I highly recommend the video. Five dollars to anybody who can tell me why the soldiers are dressed in Napoleonic garb, or why the guy who shakes Putin's hand is wearing a mortarboard. Also, what's with the zany cinematography? Rather than lending him a regal air, the grandiose dolly and point-of-view shots a la 'Russian Ark' make Medvedev look even dorkier than he already is.