روسيا والصين: الفيلم

Nov 11, 2014 Ian Buruma

نيويورك ــ إن الأزمان التي نعيش فيها كثيراً ما تنعكس بكل وضوح في مرآة الفن. وكانت الكتابات التي تناولت مرحلة ما بعد الشيوعية في روسيا والصين كثيرة. ولكن فيلمين حديثين، فيلم "لمسة الخطيئة" للمخرج جيا تشانج كه الذي أنتج في الصين عام 2013، وفيلم "الطاغوت" للمخرج أندري زفيانتسيف الذي أنتج في روسيا عام 2014، يكشفان عن المشاهد الاجتماعية والسياسية في هذين البلدين بشكل أكثر دقة من أي شيء قرأته مطبوعا.

يتسم فيلم جيا بالعَرَضية؛ فهو يتناول أربع قصص لا ارتباط بينها عن أفعال منفردة تتميز بالعنف الشديد، وأغلبها مقتطفة من تقارير صحفية معاصرة. ويدور فيلم "الطاغوت" حول رجل محترم تتهدم حياته على يد عمدة مدينته بالتواطؤ مع الكنيسة الأرثوذكسية الروسية والقضاء الفاسد.

وكل من الفيلمين مذهل على المستوى البصري، برغم كآبة قصته. فتبدو السماء الداكنة فوق الساحل الشمالي الروسي في فيلم الطاغوت فاتنة، ويتمكن جيا من إظهار الغابة الخرسانية الزجاجية في شينتشن، المدينة الموحشة الواقعة بين جوانجتشو وهونج كونج، في مظهر ساحر فائق الجمال. والشيء الآخر المشترك بين الفيلمين هو الافتتان بالقصص الأسطورية، سِفر أيوب في فيلم الطاغوت، وفنون الدفاع عن النفس الخيالية في فيلم لمسة الخطيئة.

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jagjeet sinha Nov 20, 2014

By converting China into a building site nucleating perhaps 20 Megacities, the CCCP might have democratized Real Estate wealth more democratically than Democracies. Migration was the economic motor that created The Anglosphere permitting transplantation of Europeans into The New World. Wuhan, Chengdu, Tianjin and Changsha May be the Sydney, Vancouver, Auckland, Montreal of tomorrow with rural migrants looking for salvation in Big City. The mind of CCP seemingly shaped by The Sangha, imperfections notwithstanding. Greece too shaped its Eastern Orthodoxy on the foundation of exchanges with its Eastern frontiers. The litmus test of either model is in their capacity to democratically distribute wealth creation either through Schools and Hospitals model copyrighted by The Church of Rome or through Land and Cities copyrighted both in China and The Anglosphere. The world's governance challenge perhaps permitting both models to bloom without bloodshed and with freedom. London or Rome, Moscow or Beijing - migrants are looking for salvation. The cat that catches mice understands the One Language that matters - East or West.
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j. von Hettlingen Nov 17, 2014

A Chinese and a Russian film: Jia Zhangke’s "A Touch of Sin" of 2013 and Andrey Zvyagintsev’s "Leviathan" of 2014, have made headlines, as they "reveal the social and political landscapes of these countries more precisely than anything" Ian Buruma has seen. Indeed films are said to be the mirror of a society. These two take a swipe at the current political systems in China and Russia. The dark side of the human nature is being manifested in form of cynicism and violence.
Jia sees money-worship in China as a new cultural phenomenon. The cronyist establishment has amassed huge fortunes in dealing with state assets. The excessive and extravagant life-styles of the super-rich arouse envy of those have-nots. Smugness takes the place of soul-searching.
Zvyagintsev's searing attack on the corrupt bureaucracy, in which government intimidation is more a rule than an exception. "Leviathan", based on Thomas Hobbes idea of a monstrous state, describes the ordeal of an individual confronting an authoritarian regime, run by a bunch of powerful locals, who drown their despair in vodka.
Buruma says the two films idealise the societies, which "look good in the eyes of many people who are disillusioned with Europe’s economic stagnation and America’s political dysfunction." There's a trend in the West, that some people, who want to "get things done," ingratiate themselves with authoritarian regimes to get financial support for their projects. Others "admire strongmen, who stand up to America."
While "A Touch of Sin" has gained recognition world wide, it's not shown in China. Although "Leviathan" doesn't promote patriotic agenda or government policy, it has been "submitted as the official Russian entry for the Oscars." The culture minister, Vladimir Medinsky said he didn’t like the film, and there's fear that Zvyagintsev may not be able to obtain funding from the state in the future.
Perhaps "Putin is just a bit cannier" than his Chinese peers. Nevertheless ordinary Russians would not be able to see the film. There is no official release date for the film in Russia. Putin's loyalists "are unlikely to see, let alone be influenced by, an art film." This gesture of "Russian free expression might just persuade foreigners that there is still some liberalism left in Putin’s authoritarian democracy."
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James O'Brien Nov 15, 2014

"Property, construction, and land are the common currencies of power in mafia societies" . Exactly! What "Professor of Democracy"(whatever that is) forgot to tell his readers, is the fact that Levyathan was based on the case of Marvin John Heemeyer.
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Kai Kaufmann Nov 12, 2014

Dear Mr Buruma,

over a few years, I have read around half a dozen of your articles several of which I enjoyed and found informative. Thanks for this one in which you seem to be trying to be an amphibian by living in "two worlds". I learnt some Russian and Chinese and think culturally, historically and sports-wise they both have more than a little to offer; and still, I am aware of the advantages of a liberal press and an open society based on trust rather than a panoptic security state (also cf. http://goo.gl/XfPkAF). The world is not in equilibrium as long as no solution is found with respect to Edward Snowden, with the solution obviously being neither the US, nor China, nor Russia.

Indeed, the current situation feels a bit like the Karl Popper in me and the Thomas Kuhn in me fighting for superiority. My trust is that the one who wins will be Hayek.

Pace Aristotle, tertium datur: In case you look east and don't like what you see, and then look west and don't like what you see, how about looking at the center?
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Stephen Pain Nov 11, 2014

Mr. Buruma I wish you had gone further with the mafia model. Surely in Russia we saw after the fall of the evil Empire - the coalition of FSB and the various mafia groups and oligarchs. They rule. They are crooks and tyrants who have robbed Russia and former Warsaw pact countries of trillions of sovereign revenue. That surely is a fact. They bribe and use all means to secure their survival. The Chinese model is similar except that the crooks are the ones who had been crooks since 1949. They have been responsible for so many deaths and misery. Why on earth do we trade with them at all? Our trade promotes their interests against their peoples and other weaker states and funds weapons intended to harm us. Even if we dislike the US and European liberal models...the choice is obvious.
- Dragan Nenadovic Nov 12, 2014
  
  How about western countries and regimes officials and oligarchs, 1%, controlling everything, including lives of the rest of 99%. I feel sorry for yours blindness and brain washed mines.
  Free yourself and your country first from the oligarchs, before criticizing other countries.
  PUTIN is the most loveable person in whole world, but few isolated western countries.
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روسيا والصين: الفيلم

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