"The most anti-American film ever to come out of Russia"

From today's Johnson's Russia List (the footnotes are unfortunately omitted):

OSC [US Open Source Center] Analysis: Russia: Big Budget Film Denigrates US To Highlight Russia's Benevolence as World Player
January 22, 2009

The new Russian film "Strangers," financed by the pro-Kremlin Just Russia party and shot mostly in English in Egypt and Morocco, promotes Russia as a God-chosen peacekeeper on a mission to graciously forgive the US and the Muslim world for their shortcomings. The focus on Russia's moral superiority sets the film apart from recent big budget productions, bent on parading Russia's physical might. (a) But just like the threatening image of Russia, its non-threatening image depends on negating the US. (b) Various media sources connected the film to the Kremlin's campaign to justify its "peace-enforcing" position on Georgia. Producers drew on new media to promote the film, greatly improving the film's visibility despite box-office failure.

[UPDATE: A more optimistic view of Russian cinema]

When accused of plagiarizing a US film poster, director Yuriy Grymov insisted his new film "Strangers" is a parody of Hollywood cliches as well as the cliches of US foreign policy (sostav.ru, 12 January)

Boasting a budget of $8 million, large by Russian standards, Strangers earned a meager $245,801 following its 13 November release (Kinopoisk.ru, accessed 8 January). (1) Despite failure at the box office, two months after its release the film continues to resonate in the blogosphere and traditional media.

Unlike the majority of Russian filmmakers who rely on federal money but try to gloss over their political leanings, director Yuriy Grymov, himself a member of Just Russia's Central Committee, boasted about his political affiliation.

On the website of Just Russia, Grymov publicly expressed special thanks to Sergey Mironov, speaker of the Federation Council and chairman of Just Russia, for his support in making the film (Spravedlivo.ru, 3 July 2008). (2)

In an interview with the weekly tabloid Sobesednik, Grymov said his production company YuG was created under the auspices of Just Russia, which also assisted the crew of Strangers with finding military consultants specializing in Middle Eastern affairs (12 November 2008). (3)

Marketing portal Sostav.ru named Strangers the most anti-American film ever to come out of Russia (25 November 2008). (4)

Set in what a pro-Kremlin source identified as the "Tajik-Afghan border without the steppe," where Russian peacekeepers struggle to maintain order, the film "exposes" the superficial nature of American philanthropy and values, embodied by five American medics sent by a large pharmaceutical company to test a vaccine on Muslim children (Evrazia.ru, 6 November 2008). (5) In addition, the American characters cause the death of a Russian soldier by refusing medical aid and kill a Russian surgeon who saved one of the Americans.

The film's plot and characters reflect the agenda of Just Russia.

In particular, the film reflects Just Russia's ongoing effort to dispel the "myths" of Russia as an aggressor and dictator. To this end, the Russian characters in the film act humbly in everyone's interests and die at the hands of the Americans whom they help.

In addition, Just Russia's focus on traditional family values as the foundation for a healthy society is reflected in the film's explicit criticism of the US as forsaking these values. Observers interpreted the five American characters - a heterosexual couple with infertile husband, an interracial gay couple, and an older single woman - as a cross-section of American society (Novaya Gazeta, 16 November 2008; Gazeta.ru, 13 November 2008). (6) (7) Spotlight on Yuriy Grymov Yuriy Grymov (strana.ru, January 12)

Yuriy Grymov (b. 1965) is a pioneer of Russian advertising and political PR, and a prominent film and television director and producer. Grymov has been a member of Just Russia's Central Committee since February 2007. His most notable efforts included Boris Yeltsin's election campaign, Yukos' image campaign, the 2003 public relations campaign for the Russian Party of Life, and the 2006-2007 advertising campaign for Russia's telecommunications giant MTS (Grimov.ru, accessed 21 January). (8)

Since 2001, Grymov has been the head of the youth programs of the Federation of Internet Education, started by Yukos. From 2001 to 2004, Grymov was editor-in-chief of Yukos' magazine Fakel - an important educational platform for Internet users and, reportedly, Yukos' head Mikhail Khodorkovskiy's platform for "raising an electorate" (Akzia.ru, 12 January). (9) Grymov's affiliations with the Kremlin and the oppositional Yukos prove his political agility. Grymov received two presidential awards for "contribution to developing Russian democracy" (1996) and for contributing to Internet education (2003).

Recently, Grymov was called on by pro-Kremlin media to comment on the effects of the financial crisis on the Russian marketing and film industries (Strana.ru, 13 January). (10) He also voiced support for Just Russia's proposal to form a television supervisory council (Spravedlivo.ru, 25 September 2008). (11)

Laundry List of Russian Anti-Americanism

In Strangers, Grymov incorporated many anti-American cliches circulating in Russian media and developed a few of his own. In particular, his attack on American sexuality warrants attention in view of Just Russia's promotion of traditional family values. As is the case with other anti-American sentiment in Russia, the film's focus on the Americans' "sexual handicaps" lays bare Russia's own anxieties: in this case, about the declining birthrates and the devaluation of traditional family.

In the film, none of the five American characters are capable of producing offspring without outside help. Sexual frustration breeds misplaced vengeance and lies.

The infertile American husband kills the innocent Russian surgeon and not the armed Arab lover of his wife. He then proceeds to blame the murder on "terrorists." The gay couple seeks to adopt an Arab boy who recoils in horror when he catches the two kissing. The older single woman takes her frustration out on the "uncultured" Muslim children.

Grymov's message got through to the viewers. Among others, LiveJournal blogger Yasharbek recapped the message of the film as follows: "Americans are a fallen nation. They do charity for money. Their families are immoral. Husbands are impotent. Wives cheat. The strong men are gay with midlife crisis. The women are lonely and pathologically sex-deprived" (11 November 2008). (12)

Independent-minded Nezavisimaya Gazeta criticized Grymov for ascribing qualities typical of all humans to Americans: "Why is hitting someone with a bottle over the head a purely American murder? But of course there is whiskey in that bottle, not vodka. Did Americans also invent homosexuality and then spread it around the world?" (13 November 2008). (13)

In addition to infertility, adultery, homosexuality and repressed sexuality, Grymov picked the following "American qualities" for ridicule: Americans act in exaggerated and even grotesque manner in "Strangers" (Chuzhiemovie.ru, 8 January)

Imposition of democratic value
Scapegoating
Ignorance of other cultures
Consumerism
Political nearsightedness
Egocentrism
Obsession with fitness
Teamwork (presented as inauthentic imitation of real human bonding)
Pragmatism (sticking to 9 to 5 schedule even when delivering humanitarian aid)

In interviews, Grymov expanded the list to include "the batman complex." While commending his US crew for their professionalism and critical attitude toward the Bush Administration, he said that on the set the actors "still behaved like Batmen," incapable of portraying humiliation. Grymov concluded that "mentally, Americans are always 'the saviors of civilization'" (Izvestia.ru, 14 December 2007). (14) The film humanizes and victimizes the Russian characters (Chuzhiemovie.ru, 8 January)

By contrast, the Russians, represented by a group of sappers and an imprisoned (by the Arabs) surgeon, display the following "traditional" Russian qualities, strongly tinted with the values of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose thematic role has greatly increased in recent state-sponsored films:

Humility
Pacifism
Self-sacrifice
Forgiveness
Ability to see "the big picture"

Anti-Americanism permeated the film's aggressive promotional campaign, littered with slogans "Banned for US release" and "The real face of American democracy" (sf--maniac.livejournal.com, 31 December 2008). (15) Most notably, a month prior to the film's release, a rumor that the staff of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not recommend Strangers for US release aired on St. Petersburg television station 100 TV and spread to other Russian media (8 October 2008). (16) The station linked this "decision" of the US State Department to the upcoming US elections.

Director Yuriy Grymov in a cameo appearance as a "mujahideen," looking more like a Russian Orthodox monk in "Strangers" (blog.empireonline.ru, 25 November 2008)

Grymov told the pro-Kremlin online newspaper Dni.ru that although he was not aware of any such ban on his film, he was not surprised: "Lately the US displays oversensitivity in reacting to any kind of criticism" (13 October 2008). (17)

Among others, independent culture portal OpenSpace.ru ascribed the rumor to Grymov himself, calling it "a classic virus advertisement" (20 October 2008). (18) Mass circulation daily Novyye Izvestya dismissed the rumor as Grymov's "usual" stunt (25 November 2008). (19)

However, another mass-circulation daily Moskovskiy Komsomolets reported with all seriousness that "according to some sources, Ms. Rice disliked the excessive naturalism of the film," as well as the fact that it was slated for a wide release in the Arab world (23 October 2008). (20)

The critical reaction to Strangers in mainstream media did not easily split along the traditional conformist/nonconformist divide. With few exceptions, both pro-Kremlin and independent media criticized Grymov for blatant anti-Americanism. At the same time, those reviewers who put the film in a broader context were reluctant to discount it.

In a rather indecisive review, centrist newspaper Trud described the film as "straightforward" and even "crude," while suggesting that there is definite use for such cinema, whose style imitates its subject matter: "The film Strangers... looks just as simple and straightforward as the road which the world has to follow according to George Bush" (14 November 2008). (21)

Prominent weekly news magazine Kommersant-Vlast, while not rating the film too highly, certified neutrally that the film contributed to building a certain "cultural-political space, where Americans, Vietnamese, Arabs, Europeans, and other nations remote from God run around without aim, while the Russians observe from above with lenient pity" (18 February 2008). (22)

The reaction to the film in the blogosphere, whose public influence and marketing role are growing in Russia, suggests strong anti-American sentiment. The majority of over 400 blog entries on LiveJournal, Russia's major blogging platform, either praised the film or deemed it an immediate cult classic "so good because it is so bad." A number of posts rejected the film's bluntness, yet displayed no sympathy to things American.

A number of bloggers who claimed they'd been to the US, found the film authentic. Blogger lady--bychkova recommended Strangers to "those who'd been to America but were not able to get to love it" (5 January). (23) Blogger last-gunfighter said "I've been working with Americans for 16 years and I authoritatively proclaim: the portrait of the enemy is accurate" (7 January). (24)

Blogger no4le9l6ka who appeared to be well-versed in cinema said that the film's major problem consisted not in its message but in its delivery, insisting that the film fell short of creating identifiable characters: "If you declared war, make sure you aim better" (30 December 2008). (25)

Blogger leru--mek said that the film has "an honorable aim" but the audience is wrong: it would have been much more useful if it were aimed at Georgians and Ukrainians (18 December 2008). (26) Russia's War with Georgia and "Strangers"

The power struggle of the "global-thinking" Russians and the "nearsighted" Americans taking place "somewhere in the East" caused a number of observers to count the film as a justification of Russia's official stance on the August conflict in South Ossetia. These observations inspired the film's promotional slogan: "The most relevant film of the year."

A. Dni.ru said the film "resounded as an echo of Osettian events" (19 November 2008). (27) In two other reviews under the rubric "The Federal Premier," Dni.ru promoted the film with telling titles: "Americans Tested a Vaccine on Children" and "Yuriy Grymov Predicted America's Downfall" (11 November 2008; 5 November 2008). Both reviews indicated that the film harmonized with the August events in South Ossetia "if purely through the combination of circumstances."

A. Among unofficial sources, blogger Shaktir jokingly accused Grymov of inciting the Georgian-Ossetian conflict to promote his film. She commented that the Americans in the film "blindly proceed, just as the situation in Iraq and South Ossetia demonstrated" (KinoKadr.ru, 15 September 2008). (28) Promotional Use of New Media, Innovative PR

The film's highly non-traditional promotional campaign, created by Grymov who is a trend-setter in political and social PR, reflects the importance of new media and citizen journalism in Russia, where the blogosphere is still seen as a free medium as opposed to the compromised traditional media. Most notably, Grymov arranged a free closed pre-screening in Moscow for the bloggers of LiveJournal, the primary blogging platform in Russia. The screening was followed by a Q&A session with the director.

According to LiveJournal blogger lu-lu85, approximately 600 bloggers attended the screening, yielding over 250 LiveJournal postings immediately following the 10 November screening. (29) The number of postings grew to over 400 by 13 January.

Following the screening, LiveJournal blogger Sholademi, who worked for the Central Elections Committee during the Duma and presidential elections in 2007, polled LiveJournal users to determine whether Americans were "ours" or "strangers": 97 (65.5%) of 148 respondents answered "strangers," while 51 (34.5%) responded "ours." (30) A photo report by LiveJournal user live--report indicates that majority of LiveJournal bloggers who attended the screening were between the ages of 18 and 35 (11 November, 2008)

Other inventive uses of new media, ascribed to Grymov and Just Russia, mimicked the techniques that the Kremlin allegedly uses to fight the opposition.

The news website of telecommunication giant Akado (formerly Renova Media), owned by Kremlin-linked oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, reported that those bloggers who spoke negatively of the film were flooded with bots (Akado.ru, 20 November 2008). (31)

A number of bloggers accused Grymov of paying "PR cyborgs" to rate the film positively and post positive reviews (blog.empireonline.ru, 13 November 2008). (32) Release in Arab World?

Three weeks prior to Strangers' release, video-sharing site Life.ru posted an explicit scene from the film involving a female US doctor and Arab soldier (24 October 2008). (33) Titling the video as "The Sex-Revenge of the Iraqi Soldiers," Life.ru reported that this video was circulating among Iraqi soldiers via cell-phones and that it was extremely popular. The same day, RBC special correspondent Yelena Rykova published an article in the online publication Russian Business "Why is War Needed in Advertising?" in which she provided a link to the video, saying that "the Iraqi government is facilitating the dissemination" of the video (rb.ru, 24 October 2008). (34) Currently the video is circulating on the Russian and Ukrainian Internet, drawing thousands of viewers (Spynet.ru, Tabloid.Vlasti.net, accessed 14 January).

Grymov's claims that the film received wide circulation in the Arab world appear false. Only two Arab sites have been observed to carry information about the film: Arab-language Kurdish site based in Sweden Irakna.com and Egyptian news site News.Egypt.com. The latter site published an article entitled "Russian Film Criticizes American Policy in the Middle East and Its Marked Attempts to Determine World's Fate," which mentioned Grymov's appearance on Arab satellite television (15 December 2008).